Linking agriculture and land use change to pollinator populations

越来越多的证据表明，在英国，家蜜蜂和野生传粉者都在减少，它们都用来食用的野花也是如此。我们预计这些下降是有联系的，但几乎没有证据表明这种联系是什么，以及可以采取什么措施来阻止或扭转这种联系。这些下降最可能的解释之一是英国景观管理方式的变化：自然栖息地的丧失和日益密集的农业实践。我们将测试这种土地利用变化与英国传粉者种群状况之间的联系。我们工作的一个方面是研究传粉者数量和土地利用如何随着时间的推移而变化，以测试传粉者的损失是否与景观变化相关。这一点之所以困难，是因为没有针对传粉者的国家监测计划，因此我们只有零星的传粉者变化信息。为了解决这个问题，我们将采取两种截然不同的方法：(1)比较我们所知的传粉者数量显著下降或没有下降的地区的土地利用变化情况，以及(2)重复对传粉者的历史调查，这些地点被选择为经历了不同数量的后续土地利用变化。我们工作的第二个重点将是研究当前的土地利用与当前的蜜蜂、野生传粉者和野花种群之间的联系。要做到这一点，我们需要以仔细控制的方式在条件迥异的地点调查传粉者和野花。首先，我们将使用现有的数据集来估计不同栖息地和地区的可能花朵密度，以及栖息地类型的分布(和它们的变化)、农业管理的各个方面(包括杀虫剂的使用)，以及国内蜜蜂群体的密度。然后，我们将在英国各地的六个集群中选择一组96个地点，这些地点代表了广泛的花卉资源、不同的自然和农业栖息地、不同的杀虫剂使用水平和不同数量的家庭蜜蜂蜂箱。我们将调查这些地点的野花和传粉者种群，观察花朵授粉的情况，并测试蜜蜂和一种野生蜜蜂在不同地点的表现如何。这将是对花卉资源和传粉者群落进行的最大规模的调查。然后，我们将研究从花朵密度预测传粉者数量的准确性，以及两者如何受到土地利用和农业管理的不同方面的影响。我们工作的最后一个方面将是应用这些发现，就如何最好地保护家蜜蜂和野生传粉者提出建议。这将建立在前几节成果的基础上，这些成果将提供具体的土地管理选择和传粉者种群之间的联系。这些发现可能对农民、养蜂人、自然资源保护者和政策制定者有用，因此我们将让所有这四个社区参与该项目，每个社区都有代表参加项目指导委员会。我们将在项目开始时(就需要研究的其他问题征求意见)和项目结束时(讨论我们的调查结果及其所涉政策问题)举办讲习班。我们将为这些不同的社区编辑情况介绍和简报，并在专业杂志和项目网站上分发它们。我们还将在公共网站上提供信息，包括教学材料和其他有关传粉者下降的资源。

There is growing evidence that both domestic honeybees and wild pollinators are in decline in Britain, as are the wildflowers that they both use for food. We expect these declines are linked, but there is little evidence to demonstrate what the links are, and what can be done to halt or reverse them. Among the most likely explanations for these declines are changes in the way the British landscape is managed: loss of natural habitats and increasingly intensive agricultural practices. We will test for links between such land use changes and the condition of British pollinator populations. One aspect of our work involves examining how pollinator populations and land use have changed over time, to test whether pollinator losses are correlated with landscape changes. This is made difficult because there is no national monitoring programme for pollinators, and so we only have scattered information about pollinator changes. To overcome this problem, we will take two contrasting approaches: (1) comparing how land use has changed in areas where we know pollinator populations either have declined markedly or have not done so, and (2) repeating historical surveys of pollinators in sites chosen to have undergone different amounts of subsequent land use change. A second focus of our work will be on how current land uses link to current honeybee, wild pollinator and wildflower populations. To do so, we need to survey pollinators and wildflowers in sites with very different sets of conditions in a carefully controlled manner. First we will use existing datasets to estimate likely flower densities in different habitats and regions, as well as the distribution of habitat types (and changes in them), various aspects agricultural management (including pesticide usage), and the density of domestic honeybee colonies. We will then choose a set of 96 sites in six clusters across Britain, with sites chosen to represent a wide range of flower resources, different natural and agricultural habitats, different levels of pesticide use, and different numbers of domestic honeybee hives. We will survey wildflower and pollinator populations at these sites, observe how well flowers are pollinated, and test how well honeybees and one wild bee species perform when placed at the different sites. This will be the largest scale survey of flower resources and pollinator communities ever performed. We will then examine how well pollinator populations can be predicted from flower densities, and how both are affected by various aspects of land use and agricultural management. The final aspect of our work will be to apply these findings to make recommendations as to how both domestic honeybees and wild pollinators can best be protected. This will build off of the results of the previous sections, which will provide links between specific land management options and pollinator stocks. Such findings could be of use to farmers, beekeepers, conservationists and policy makers, and so we will involve all four of these communities in the project, involving representatives of each on a project Steering Committee. We will hold workshops both at the beginning of the project (to get ideas for additional issues to study) and at the end of the project (to discuss our findings and their policy implications). We will edit fact-sheets and briefing papers for these different communities, and distribute them in specialist magazines and through a project web site. We will also make information available on a public website, including teaching materials and other resources about pollinator declines.