Widespread losses of pollinating insects in Britain
Author | |
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. |
Year of Publication |
2019
|
Journal |
Nature Communications
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Volume |
10
|
Issue |
1
|
Date Published |
2019/03/26
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ISBN Number |
2041-1723
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URL | |
DOI |
10.1038/s41467-019-08974-9
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Scheme | |
Research themes | |