BEE-STEWARD: A decision-support tool for land owners, managers and advisors to support pollinator populations on farmland

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Bees are important pollinators of crops and wild flowers and, because they are totally reliant on nectar and pollen, they provide a proxy for the wider community of insect flower visitors that pollinate plants. There are many current initiatives aimed at improving the landscape to promote pollinator biodiversity, a key aim of the National Pollinator Strategy, but how do land managers predict which initiatives are likely to be most successful and thus make best use of often limited resources? In a collaborative project between Prof Juliet Osborne's team at the Environment and Sustainability Institute (Univ. Exeter in Cornwall) and partners [Natural England, the NFU (National Farmers Union), South Devon AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and Cornwall AONB] who are professionals in farming and environmentally sensitive land management, we will transform our latest systems models of bee colony dynamics into a decision-support software tool called BEE-STEWARD. It can be used to visualise how pollinator-friendly land management options might affect bee survival in any chosen landscape, thus aiding effective decision-making and resource allocation, and increasing the likelihood of land being managed to boost pollinators.WHY IS IT NEEDED? Studies have shown that increasing flower-rich habitats increases foraging bee numbers: Countryside Stewardship options have been developed with this foundation. However, practitioners have highlighted that there is a still a notable gap in understanding how these initiatives affect bee populations, and a lack of tools to inform where to best place resources.HOW WILL WE DO IT? To address the gap, we will develop the BEE-STEWARD tool to predict the relative value of adding forage to a mapped landscape by simulating bee colonies, and providing a comparison of population survival before and after implementation of changes. First, our partners will explain what they want from the tool to ensure the end product is fit for purpose and has a wide reach. With this blueprint, BEE-STEWARD will be created by integrating our current models: BEEHAVE (honeybees), BUMBLE-BEEHAVE (bumblebees) and BEE-SCOUT (landscape mapping model) with an interface that enables users to test land management scenarios. The user would upload their own maps which are then converted into maps of estimated nectar and pollen availability. The model then simulates how successful bees are likely to be in the mapped landscape, and simulates the effect of changes, such as planting flower mixtures or changing crops. We will work with the sectors below to disseminate the tool and ensure legacy.WHO WILL USE IT? Whilst based on complex models of bee biology, BEE-STEWARD itself will be designed for users with no modelling experience. It will be freely available on the web, with a step-by-step guide for:1) Individual farmers & landowners: it will provide a clear explanatory visualisation of how management scenarios may impact bees, over a range of time- and spatial scales. By building a community of Bee Stewards i.e. individuals prepared to test their ideas of environmental management in a virtual arena before putting into practice, then this will increase knowledge in the community, enable them to weigh up different options before spending money, and spread best practice, encouraging greater uptake of bee-friendly management options.2) Land managers, advisors and policy makers: BEE-STEWARD will allow them to explore what pollinator options are likely to be most successful in the landscape, and where. A key aim is to integrate this with Natural England's advice to farmers on how to implement the Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme.3) The food retail sector: will be encouraged to devise incentives to encourage their suppliers to use the BEE-STEWARD tool, to boost market value of products based on their use of environmentally smart decision-making in favour of pollinators