Virtual bee models helping to deliver benefits for pollinators

Research overview:

Pollinators – including bees – are in decline globally, posing a substantial threat to global food production and to insect and plant biodiversity. Research from Professor Juliet Osborne and colleagues has played a pivotal role in identifying threats to pollinators, with a focus on loss of habitat, disease, invasive species, climate change and pesticide use.

Realising the importance of predicting the impact of multiple stressors on pollinator population dynamics over long time frames (years) and large spatial scales (km), the ESI Pollinator group have developed innovative ecological models of managed and wild bee colony dynamics to forecast bee colony survival. The “BEEHAVE” model has changed how regulators assess risks to honeybees and set bee protection goals in the EU, and the “BEE-STEWARD” model, focussed on bumblebees, has enabled the delivery of pollinator-friendly plans for land managers across the UK.

Key objectives:

• Developing innovative ecological decision-support tools for use by stakeholders, in pursuit of an improved environment for pollinators.
• Predicting the impact of multiple stressors on pollinator populations over long time frames and large spatial scales.
• Improved European regulation and informed land management.

Impact:

The suite of models and strong translation activities of the group are actively building pollinator resilient environments both locally and globally.

The resulting science underpins national pollinator policy and European regulation on bee protection, and enables global industry to reduce the environmental damage of pesticides.

The research impacts the practice of land stewards and local government to manage landscapes to maximise pollinator survival. For example, BEE-STEWARD it is being used in Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s project: The Fowey Valley Bumblebee Project.