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Widespread losses of pollinating insects in Britain.


ABSTRACT: Pollination is a critical ecosystem service underpinning the productivity of agricultural systems across the world. Wild insect populations provide a substantial contribution to the productivity of many crops and seed set of wild flowers. However, large-scale evidence on species-specific trends among wild pollinators are lacking. Here we show substantial inter-specific variation in pollinator trends, based on occupancy models for 353 wild bee and hoverfly species in Great Britain between 1980 and 2013. Furthermore, we estimate a net loss of over 2.7 million occupied 1 km2 grid cells across all species. Declines in pollinator evenness suggest that losses were concentrated in rare species. In addition, losses linked to specific habitats were identified, with a 55% decline among species associated with uplands. This contrasts with dominant crop pollinators, which increased by 12%, potentially in response agri-environment measures. The general declines highlight a fundamental deterioration in both wider biodiversity and non-crop pollination services.

SUBMITTER: Powney GD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6435717 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Widespread losses of pollinating insects in Britain.

Powney Gary D GD   Carvell Claire C   Edwards Mike M   Morris Roger K A RKA   Roy Helen E HE   Woodcock Ben A BA   Isaac Nick J B NJB  

Nature communications 20190326 1


Pollination is a critical ecosystem service underpinning the productivity of agricultural systems across the world. Wild insect populations provide a substantial contribution to the productivity of many crops and seed set of wild flowers. However, large-scale evidence on species-specific trends among wild pollinators are lacking. Here we show substantial inter-specific variation in pollinator trends, based on occupancy models for 353 wild bee and hoverfly species in Great Britain between 1980 an  ...[more]

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