Urban pollinators: their ecology and conservation

关于城市化对传粉昆虫的影响，有两种观点。一方面，城市化被认为是昆虫减少的主要原因之一，特别是通过改变对传粉媒介重要的生态特征，如食物和筑巢地。另一方面，一些城市栖息地对传粉者来说非常好：英国已知的35%的食蚜蝇物种是在莱斯特的一个花园中记录的，城市栖息地是大黄蜂没有减少的少数栖息地之一。我们的研究将通过比较三种栖息地（城市、农田和自然保护区）的传粉媒介多样性，首先询问英国景观中的传粉媒介。我们将使用系统方法来研究植物与其传粉者之间的相互作用网络，而不仅仅是计算物种，因为这些相互作用对群落对物种丧失、压力和生态恢复的反应具有深远的影响。在拟议研究的第二阶段，我们将详细研究四个城市（布里斯托尔、雷丁、利兹和爱丁堡）的传粉者动物群，目的是量化不同城市栖息地的传粉者的价值。虽然生态学家对城市花园对传粉昆虫的价值知之甚少，但对工业园区、学校场地、土地、墓地和城市中许多其他栖息地的价值却一无所知。我们的试点数据表明，一些栖息地对传粉者来说非常好，或者可以做到这一点。研究人员将再次使用网络方法，并使用一种全新的数学工具来预测变化的影响，该工具将传粉者与花朵之间相互作用网络的数据与元群落生态学（局部传粉网络的整个系统如何响应物种损失和物种扩散）的数据结合起来。在我们提出的研究的最后阶段，我们问我们是否可以改善城市传粉者的条件。我们将在四个城市进行大规模的田间试验，通过在农田边缘播种“花蜜混合物”来控制传粉媒介的食物供应，以保护传粉媒介。我们的植物混合物将被选择为传粉者提供食物，低维护，并且看起来很吸引人的眼睛。与每个城市的当地专业保护从业者合作（其中七个被命名为提案的合作者），将在四个城市以大胆的实验设计实施治疗。从支持信中可以看出，我们的项目将为从业者提供基于证据的传粉媒介保护管理所需的确切数据。此外，2006年《自然环境和农村社区法》规定，公共当局必须考虑到保护生物多样性。基于证据的城市规划为传粉媒介保护提供了相当大的希望。通过使用我们的数据来了解城市栖息地马赛克的价值和空间特性，地方当局将能够将传粉媒介保护整合到英国9%的城市土地中。拟建的研究小组的成员有技能、经验和必要的资金来显著改善英国的传粉媒介保护。在Memmott的带领下，这个团队由大学里的传粉生态学家、分类学家组成，他们负责识别数百种即将被发现的物种，保护生态学家负责对城市地区进行长期利益和影响，以实施保护传粉者和它们提供的生态系统服务所需的变革。我们的研究计划是令人兴奋的、及时的、开拓性的和雄心勃勃的。这也是非常可行的，因为有一个清晰的管理结构。我们将提供卓越的科学和即时的保护影响。

There are two schools of thought concerning the effect of urbanization on pollinating insects. On one hand, urbanization is considered to be one of the major causes of insect decline, in particular through the alteration of ecological features important to pollinators, such as food and nesting sites. On the other hand, some urban habitats are remarkably good for pollinators: 35% of hoverfly species known from the UK were recorded in a single garden in Leicester, and urban habitats are one of the few habitats where bumblebees are not declining. Our research will start by asking where pollinators are found in the UK landscape, by comparing pollinator diversity in three habitats: cities, farmland and nature reserves. Rather than just counting species though, we will use a systems approach to study the network of interactions between plants and their pollinators, as these interactions have a profound impact on a community's response to species loss, stress and ecological restoration. In the second stage of the proposed research, we will look in detail at the pollinator fauna of four cities (Bristol, Reading, Leeds and Edinburgh), with the aim of quantifying the value for pollinators of various city habitats. While ecologists know a little about the value of urban gardens for pollinators, practically nothing is known about the value of industrial estates, school grounds, allotments, graveyards and the many other habitats found in cities. Our pilot data suggest that some habitats can be remarkably good for pollinators, or can be managed to be so. Again a network approach will be used, and the impact of change will be predicted using an entirely new mathematical tool - one which combines data on the network of interactions linking pollinators to flowers with data on meta-community ecology (how the whole system of local pollination networks responds to species loss and species dispersal). In the final stage of our proposed research, we ask whether we can improve conditions for urban pollinators. We will use a large-scale field experiment, replicated in four cities, in which we will manipulate pollinator food supplies by introducing an urban version of the field margins sown with 'nectar flower mixtures' on farmland to conserve pollinators. Our plant mixes will be chosen to provide pollinator food, be low-maintenance, and look attractive to the human eye. Working with local professional conservation practitioners in each city (seven of these are named collaborators on the proposal), treatments will be implemented in a bold experimental design in four cities. As can be seen from the letters of support, our project will provide the exact data that practitioners need for evidence-based conservation management of pollinators. Moreover, The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 states that public authorities must have regard to conserving biodiversity. Evidence-based urban planning offers considerable promise for pollinator conservation. By using our data to understand the value and spatial properties of the urban habitat mosaic, Local Authorities will be able to integrate pollinator conservation into the 9% of land that comprises urban areas in the UK. Members of the proposed research team have the skills, experience and wherewithal to improve pollinator conservation significantly in the UK. Led by Memmott, the team consists of university-based pollination ecologists, taxonomists to identify the many hundreds of species that will be found, and conservation ecologists, with long-term interests and influence in urban areas, to implement the changes needed to conserve both the pollinators and the ecosystem services they provide. Our research proposal is exciting, timely, pioneering and ambitious. It is also very feasible, as a clear management structure is in place. We will provide both scientific excellence and immediate conservation impact.