MASSIVE BUMBLEBEE MIGRATION! Yesterday, bird migration hotspot Breskens, the Netherlands, counted ~1000 migrating bumblebee queens in a SINGLE HOUR (trektellen.nl/count/view/1...).
More on this extraordinary phenomenon: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@trektellen.bsky.social
📢 Peatland & PV – could do much better!
Our new study in @springernature.com shows: Solar parks on drained peatlands emit more GHG than they save. 😱 🔗 Read the study: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Why? Drained peatlands release CO₂—offsetting clean energy gains.
What are the reasons why people choose to protect pollinators like bees, butterflies and hoverflies? 🐝 🦋
A 2024 #SafeguardResearch examines the factors that influence the behaviour of people in rural and urban areas across 3 European countries.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
You're right! I just had to accept the personalized cookies (which I do not want, but did anyway). I expect also more grazing in Dutch solar parks, but hopefully not low-density year-round. We have good experiences with paid-for grazing management (high-density, short period grazing) here.
Can't read the article (no subscription). Solar parks are actually quite ok for insect biodiversity, when placed on agricultural land: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/.... More research outcomes will follow! Year-round grazing is not good though. Strip grazing is better.
This gallery of almost all EU bee species high quality photos is quite impressive: pollinatoracademy.eu/images
Bee pollination increases fruit weight and antioxidants in pumpkins
Pollination influences crop quality, especially the nutrient composition of fruits and seeds (micronutrients in our diet)
#onehealth
#health
#micronutrients
#pollinators
#microhunger
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Mixed plant and arthropod biodiversity responses to solar park establishment on former agricultural lands 🦋
Suggests that, while biodiversity can increase in solar parks post-conversion compared to previous land use, not all taxonomic groups benefit from this change 🌏🧪
doi.org/10.1111/1365...
A sweat bee resting on a flower.
A new study in Science evaluating published data from 19 countries has pinpointed the minimum habitat levels needed to sustain pollinators in agricultural landscapes. https://scim.ag/3VIq4Cg
Four graphs comparing species richness at various taxonomic levels
A welcome research comparing the results of pollinator monitoring obtained by humans (so-called 'pollination ecologists') and concurrent time-lapse videos (so-called 'the future for lazy' 😜). Take a quick glance at this figure from the paper and judge for yourself
doi.org/10.1002/aps3...
This was a global synthesis with many co-authors and data-providers - many thanks to all of them!
But when I say global.. effectively it is Europe and North America. Again. We included tropical studies, but only searched in English literature. Happy if someone improves by including other languages!
Habitat quality matters, but not as much as creating more habitat. Doubling habitat cover doubles population size. Doubling habitat quality does not, and seems to be unreasonable to achieve. However, habitat quality and diversity are super important for pollinator diversity!
We need much more semi-natural habitat (6-37%, depending on species group) in agricultural landscapes to effectively conserve pollinators. Large collaborative synthesis study looking at 59 studies in 1250 landscapes from 19 countries now published in Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
"Why do queen bumblebees emerge from hibernation during weekends?"
I love this framing about bias in hobbyist-collected data.
This research was part of the #EcoCertifiedSolarParks project, which has created an independent label that should allow for the development of nature-inclusive solar parks. nlgreenlabel.nl/blog/nieuws/... (click right above for Dutch/English/German).
Dutch solar parks approach pollinator & plant biodiversity levels of extensive grasslands, but only on the surface not covered by panels. Soil-emergent arthropods and butterflies lack behind. Proud of Timea for leading besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@jappliedecology.bsky.social
In maart hebben we ook een paal geinstalleerd op perceel Ede. Vandaag was de kast bezet!
A young planted hedgerow with installed next boxes on wooden poles, and in the background a long pole with a kestrel next box installed. The nest box has two common kestrels sitting in it.
Doing science biodiversity is great, but the impact is usually not very tangible. Together with citizen cooperative Land van Ons (@landvanons.bsky.social) we planted 300 meter of native hedgerow last December, and installed nest boxes. Today, I jumped of joy because the kestrel box is occupied!
With first sites being now resurveyed, we have just added another 50+ sites especially in Southern Germany: www.dda-web.de/monitoring/h... (+ more to follow!)
New project! Ever wondered about shifting #baselines in #conservation? Thought about quantifying historical biodiversity losses? We launched a nationwide #resurvey of historical bird surveys in Germany. Together with www.dda-web.de, we have...
Our March issue is out now!
Topics include:
👉The effect of mass-flowering lupin on wild bee conservation🐝
👉Managing marine invasive species in a changing world🌊
👉Assessing foodborne pathogen survival in bird faeces to co-manage farms🐦
Read more:
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/13652664...
Screenshot of the paper front page.
Now this is exciting.
Antonin and his team have just published a study showing that the number of migrating hoverflies through Czechia are positively correlated with the numbers of birds!
Suggests that the birds are using the flies as fuel on migration.
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....
Our new paper, based on data from 1,705 studies, shows that pesticides are toxic to organisms they are not intended to harm, including fungi, microbes, plants, insects, & vertebrates such as ourselves. Questions the wisdom of applying over 3 million tonnes of them every year...
Very interesting review article "Crop diversification for pollinator conservation" by Thijs Fijen, @eeraertsmaxime.bsky.social, @juliaosterman.bsky.social, @catrinwestphal.bsky.social and co-authors in Landscape Ecology!
New research suggests that adding lupin to crop rotations can promote bumblebees in agricultural landscapes, but diverse bee populations need more than just flowering crops 🐝🌏 🧪
🔗 https://buff.ly/40wpUjc
Thanks for sharing John! Curious to hear your thoughts
This was part of Gabriella Bishop's PhD, funded through the EU Horizon project SHOWCASE. She did an awesome job (and look at her drawings!). Thanks also to the lupin farmers, and LekkerLupine!
Very excited about these results! We experimentally added 1ha flowering lupin fields into the crop cultivation, and tested whether that increases pollinator populations. Yes! It helps, but obviously more conservation measures are needed too!
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
