Pollinators have declined worldwide with accelerated speed since after the Second World war due to, for instance, intensified agriculture production, urbanization, and land-use changes, and climate change (Dicks et al. 2021; Nieto et al. 2014). Several conservation programs have been developed to combat this issue (Geppert et al. 2020; Ruckelshaus et al. 2020), but they are not generally initiated in urban areas. However, urban green infrastructure may support high levels of biodiversity, including rare and protected species, and provide a refugium for diverse insect pollinators, which can help to increase ecosystem functions and ecosystem services (Hall et al. 2017; Baldock et al. 2019).
In this symposium, we would like to focus on pollinator conservation in urban habitats. Pollinators have a significant role in increasing the yield of common garden products such as apples, strawberries, and plums. Also, they pollinate garden flowers which are of esthetical value for the inhabitants. The participants will share information about the urban ecology of the main insect pollinators. Compared to natural areas, urban habitats pose different challenges to pollinators, like direct human pressure, traffic, urban pollution, invasive species, insecticides, and new enemies. The symposium will identify the key mechanisms to support and enhance insect pollinators in urban environments, provide a new overview of their conservation risks and trade-offs, and share the latest ecological knowledge about the topic.
Finally, the symposium will provide participants with a more holistic picture of urbanization's effect on insect pollinators and offer the opportunity to develop a new interdisciplinary research network of participating scientists.
Reference list
Hall, D.M., Camilo, G.R., Tonietto, R.K., Ollerton, J., Ahrné, K., Arduser, M., Ascher, J.S., Baldock, K.C., Fowler, R., Frankie, G. and Goulson, D., 2017. The city as a refuge for insect pollinators. Conservation Biology, 31(1), pp.24-29.
Baldock, K.C., Goddard, M.A., Hicks, D.M., Kunin, W.E., Mitschunas, N., Morse, H., Osgathorpe, L.M., Potts, S.G., Robertson, K.M., Scott, A.V., Staniczenko, P.P., Stone, G.N., Vaughan, I.P. & Memmott J., 2019. A systems approach reveals urban pollinator hotspots and conservation opportunities. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3(3), pp.363-373.
Dicks, L.V., Breeze, T.D., Ngo, H.T., Senapathi, D., An, J., Aizen, M.A., Basu, P., Buchori, D., Galetto, L., Garibaldi, L.A. and Gemmill-Herren, B., 2021. A global-scale expert assessment of drivers and risks associated with pollinator decline. Nature Ecology & Evolution, pp.1-9.
Nieto, A., Roberts, S. P. M., Kemp, J., Rasmont, P., Kuhlmann, M., García Criado, M., … Miches, D. 2014. European Red List of bees. Luxembourg: Publication Office of the European Union.
Geppert, C., Hass, A., Földesi, R., Donkó, B., Akter, A., Tscharntke, T. and Batáry, P., 2020. Agri‐environment schemes enhance pollinator richness and abundance but bumblebee reproduction depends on field size. Journal of Applied Ecology, 57(9), pp.1818-1828.
Ruckelshaus, M.H., Jackson, S.T., Mooney, H.A., Jacobs, K.L., Kassam, K.A.S., Arroyo, M.T., Báldi, A., Bartuska, A.M., Boyd, J., Joppa, L.N. and Kovács-Hostyánszki, A., 2020. The IPBES global assessment: Pathways to action. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 35(5), pp.407-414.
Presentations
Conservation opportunities for pollinators in urban landscapes
- Katherine Baldock (Northumbria University, United Kingdom)
Urbanization effects on insect pollinator diversity: a global meta-analysis
- Edina Török (Centre for Ecological Research, Hungary)
Bumble bee colony health and performance vary widely across the urban ecosystem
- Panagiotis Theodorou (Martin-Luther-university Halle-wittenberg, Germany)
Temperature drives wild bee community assembly in an urban environment
- Costanza Geppert (Dafnae, University of Padova, Italy)
Conserving bee diversity in gardens through vegetation and nesting resources across urban landscapes
- Monika Egerer (Technische Universität München, Germany)
Pollinators and people: socio-economic drivers of allotment garden management and impacts on urban pollinator communities
- Francesca Martelli (Northumbria University, United Kingdom)