UK pollinators hit by farming

February 11, 2016 Peter Crosskey Latest from EU Member States, Recent updates

Bumblebee montage — Just four plant species accounted for half the UK’s national nectar supply in 2007 according to a study published this month in Nature. Despite a period of stabilisation in the 1970s, the UK now has fewer and less diverse habitats to support pollinator populations. Arable farmland in the UK today offers the least diversity in pollen sources of any habitats in the country, according to a research team drawn from the University of Bristol, the University of Leeds, the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and Fera Science Ltd. Now based at l’Université d’Orléans, lead author Dr Mathilde Baude told Phys.Org: “Nationally, a small number of plants contribute massively to nectar provision including clover, heather and thistles. These very common species are very important to ecosystem functioning, yet they are often disregarded.”
Bumblebee image component by Derek Keats, Wikimedia Commons.

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Peter Crosskey is based in the UK.

Agricultural and Rural Convention