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A new study reveals widespread losses of pollinators in the UK over the past three decades. Based on the areas they occupy, one-third of wild bee and hoverfly species declined between 1980 and 2013, according to the report published today (March 26) in Nature Communications.
The researchers combined species abundance data with a modeling approach to estimate trends in the ranges for 353 species of wild bees and hoverflies. While many species lost ground, 11 percent expanded their range, including bees that pollinate crops such as oilseed rape. Overall, the analysis found that wild bee and hoverfly pollinators no longer occupy a quarter of the area where they were found in 1980, The Guardian reports.
“The declines in Britain can be viewed as a warning about the health of our countryside,” study coauthor Gary Powney of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in the UK tells ...
