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.

该博士项目将研究景观结构、栖息地网络以及管理和野生授粉媒介之间的竞争对农业景观中野生大黄蜂保护的作用。这项研究将探讨一个广泛的研究问题：“景观结构对大黄蜂种群的影响是什么？”回答这个问题将了解当前的环境土地管理计划和传粉昆虫保护的国际建议如何更有效地帮助维持和恢复大黄蜂种群。该研究将在英国剑桥郡的一系列自然保护区和农场级实验景观中进行，其中将进行涉及实验室饲养的熊蜂和蜜蜂的实地调查和实验。使用来自野生捕获蜂王的实验室饲养的黄尾熊蜂（Bombus terrestris），将调查蜂群适应性以及熊蜂对林地、裸露土壤和树篱等各种景观特征的利用。通过花粉分析和新颖的 eDNA 分析方法，通过跟踪熊蜂在景观中的移动来跟踪熊蜂资源的利用。此外，还将测量群体健康指标，包括觅食成功率和群体规模。将整理数据以形成熊蜂、饲料植物和景观特征相互作用的网络，从而得出有关栖息地恢复力和稳健性的结论。这些数据将揭示农业景观所需的栖息地恢复规模。为了补充这一点，将通过对不同饲养密度的熊蜂和蜜蜂蜂巢进行重复的田间实验来检查与其他授粉媒介（例如受管理的蜜蜂）的竞争。这项研究的成果将填补野生授粉媒介景观利用以及野生和管理授粉媒介之间竞争的研究空白，并将用于为国家和区域范围内基于证据的土地管理政策提供政策相关建议。