Mixed plant and arthropod biodiversity responses to solar park establishment on former agricultural lands 🦋

Suggests that, while biodiversity can increase in solar parks post-conversion compared to previous land use, not all taxonomic groups benefit from this change 🌏🧪

doi.org/10.1111/1365...

A new study in Science evaluating published data from 19 countries has pinpointed the minimum habitat levels needed to sustain pollinators in agricultural landscapes. https://scim.ag/3VIq4Cg

A welcome research comparing the results of pollinator monitoring obtained by humans (so-called 'pollination ecologists') and concurrent time-lapse videos (so-called 'the future for lazy' 😜). Take a quick glance at this figure from the paper and judge for yourself

doi.org/10.1002/aps3...

We need much more semi-natural habitat (6-37%, depending on species group) in agricultural landscapes to effectively conserve pollinators. Large collaborative synthesis study looking at 59 studies in 1250 landscapes from 19 countries now published in Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

"Why do queen bumblebees emerge from hibernation during weekends?"

I love this framing about bias in hobbyist-collected data.

Dutch solar parks approach pollinator & plant biodiversity levels of extensive grasslands, but only on the surface not covered by panels. Soil-emergent arthropods and butterflies lack behind. Proud of Timea for leading besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@jappliedecology.bsky.social

Doing science biodiversity is great, but the impact is usually not very tangible. Together with citizen cooperative Land van Ons (@landvanons.bsky.social) we planted 300 meter of native hedgerow last December, and installed nest boxes. Today, I jumped of joy because the kestrel box is occupied!

With first sites being now resurveyed, we have just added another 50+ sites especially in Southern Germany: www.dda-web.de/monitoring/h... (+ more to follow!)

New project! Ever wondered about shifting #baselines in #conservation? Thought about quantifying historical biodiversity losses? We launched a nationwide #resurvey of historical bird surveys in Germany. Together with www.dda-web.de, we have...

Our March issue is out now!

Topics include:
👉The effect of mass-flowering lupin on wild bee conservation🐝
👉Managing marine invasive species in a changing world🌊
👉Assessing foodborne pathogen survival in bird faeces to co-manage farms🐦

Read more:
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/13652664...

Now this is exciting.

Antonin and his team have just published a study showing that the number of migrating hoverflies through Czechia are positively correlated with the numbers of birds!
Suggests that the birds are using the flies as fuel on migration.

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....

Our new paper, based on data from 1,705 studies, shows that pesticides are toxic to organisms they are not intended to harm, including fungi, microbes, plants, insects, & vertebrates such as ourselves. Questions the wisdom of applying over 3 million tonnes of them every year...

Very interesting review article "Crop diversification for pollinator conservation" by Thijs Fijen, @eeraertsmaxime.bsky.social, @juliaosterman.bsky.social, @catrinwestphal.bsky.social and co-authors in Landscape Ecology!

New research suggests that adding lupin to crop rotations can promote bumblebees in agricultural landscapes, but diverse bee populations need more than just flowering crops 🐝🌏 🧪

🔗 https://buff.ly/40wpUjc

Very excited about these results! We experimentally added 1ha flowering lupin fields into the crop cultivation, and tested whether that increases pollinator populations. Yes! It helps, but obviously more conservation measures are needed too!

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

New study: #CropDiversification can help pollinators without taking land out of agricultural production, but only some #pollinator species may benefit. We highlight mechanisms on the spatial
and temporal #diversity of crops. Led by Thijs Fijen @w-u-r.bsky.social