Bumblebee conservation in agricultural landscapes - the role of landscape structure and the Environmental Land Management Scheme

农业景观中的熊蜂保护 - 景观结构的作用和环境土地管理计划

• 批准号: 2729523
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2729523
• 关键词: Bumblebee; conservation; agricultural; landscapes; role

This PhD project will examine the role of landscape structure, networks ofhabitats and the competition between managed and wild pollinators on wildbumblebee conservation in agricultural landscapes. This research willexamine the broad research question: "What is the effect of landscapestructure on bumblebee populations?" Answering this question will inform howcurrent Environmental Land Management Schemes and internationalrecommendations for pollinator conservation can be more effective in helpingmaintain and restore bumblebee populations. The research will be set in acollection of nature reserves and a farm level experimental landscape inCambridgeshire, the United Kingdom, where field surveys and experimentsinvolving lab-reared bumblebees and honeybees will take place. Using lab-reared Buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) from wild-caught queens,colony fitness will be investigated alongside bumblebee use of variedlandscape features such as, woodlands, bare soil, and hedgerows.Bumblebee resource use will be tracked by following their movement throughthe landscape, via pollen analysis, and a novel eDNA analysis method. Inaddition, indicators of colony fitness, including foraging success and colonysize, will be measured. Data will be collated to shape networks ofbumblebees, forage plants, and landscape feature interactions to drawconclusions on habitat resilience and robustness. This data will reveal thescale of habitat restoration that is needed in agricultural landscapes. Tocomplement this, competition with other pollinators, such as managedhoneybees, will be examined through replicated field experiments withbumblebees and honeybee hives in varying stocking densities. The outcomesof this research will fill a research gap on wild pollinator landscape use, andthe competition between wild and managed pollinators, and it will be utilisedto produce policy-relevant recommendations for evidence-based landmanagement policies at national and regional scales.

这一博士项目将研究景观结构、栖息地网络以及管理传粉者和野生传粉者之间在农业景观中野生大黄蜂保护方面的竞争。这项研究将考察一个广泛的研究问题：“景观结构对大黄蜂种群有什么影响？”回答这个问题将告诉我们，当前的环境土地管理计划和传粉者保护的国际建议如何能够更有效地帮助维持和恢复熊蜂种群。这项研究将在英国剑桥郡的自然保护区和农场级别的实验景观中进行，在那里将进行实地调查和实验，涉及实验室饲养的大黄蜂和蜜蜂。使用实验室饲养的野生蜂王的黄尾熊蜂(Bombus Terrestris)，除了调查熊蜂对各种景观特征的使用外，还将调查它们对林地、裸露土壤和树篱的使用情况。通过花粉分析和一种新颖的EDNA分析方法，将通过跟踪它们在景观中的移动来跟踪大黄蜂资源的使用。此外，还将衡量种群适合度的指标，包括觅食成功和种群大小。数据将被整理，以形成大黄蜂、饲料植物和景观特征相互作用的网络，从而得出关于栖息地弹性和稳健性的结论。这些数据将揭示农业景观所需的栖息地恢复的规模。为了补充这一点，与其他传粉者的竞争，如管理蜜蜂，将通过不同放养密度的大黄蜂和蜂箱的重复田间实验来检验。这项研究的结果将填补野生传粉者景观利用的研究空白，以及野生传粉者和管理传粉者之间的竞争，并将被用于在国家和区域范围内为基于证据的土地管理政策提出政策相关建议。