Bringing scientists together with the business community at the start of a process is a radically different way of working
-Bill Sutherland
By carrying pollen from one plant to another, bees and other insects contribute to plant reproduction in almost 90% of our wild plants, and around 30% of our crops depend on them. But, as zoologist Dr Lynn Dicks explained, their future is under threat: “There has been a massive decline in some groups of insect pollinators. The number of bumblebee species in the UK dropped by around 30% between the 1950s and 1980s, and numbers of many large moth species in the UK have halved since the late 1960s.”
Most scientists agree that pollinator declines are caused by the interaction of various factors including habitat change, the consequent loss of flowers and nest sites, agricultural chemicals, disease and possibly climate change.
“There’s also an increasing acknowledgement of the important role pollinators play in food production,” added Dicks. “Some fruit crops are completely dependent on pollinators, and for others pollination results in better quality fruit.”
Dicks holds a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) three-year Knowledge Exchange Fellowship. Her work on pollinator conservation has brought together key players to identify knowledge gaps and to devise collaborative projects to address them. Twenty large businesses, including Waitrose and Heineken, joined forces with representatives from government agencies, nature conservation agencies including Natural England and Buglife, and scientists.
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Image: Bee
Credit: Matt Bilton
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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