A horizon scan of future threats and opportunities for pollinators and pollination
Authors
Brown, Mark JF
Paxton, Robert J
Baldock, Katherine CR
Barron, Andrew B
Chauzat, Marie-Pierre
Freitas, Breno M
Goulson, Dave
Jepsen, Sarina
Kremen, Claire
Li, Jilian
Neumann, Peter
Pattemore, David E
Potts, Simon G
Schweiger, Oliver
Seymour, Colleen L
Stout, Jane C
Publication Date
2016-08-09Journal Title
PeerJ
ISSN
2167-8359
Publisher
PeerJ
Volume
4
Number
e2249
Language
English
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Brown, M. J., Dicks, L., Paxton, R. J., Baldock, K. C., Barron, A. B., Chauzat, M., Freitas, B. M., et al. (2016). A horizon scan of future threats and opportunities for pollinators and pollination. PeerJ, 4 (e2249)https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2249
Abstract
Background. Pollinators, which provide the agriculturally and ecologically essential
service of pollination, are under threat at a global scale. Habitat loss and homogenisation,
pesticides, parasites and pathogens, invasive species, and climate change have been
identified as past and current threats to pollinators. Actions to mitigate these threats, e.g.,
agri-environment schemes and pesticide-use moratoriums, exist, but have largely been
applied post-hoc. However, future sustainability of pollinators and the service they provide
requires anticipation of potential threats and opportunities before they occur, enabling
timely implementation of policy and practice to prevent, rather than mitigate, further
pollinator declines. Methods. Using a horizon scanning approach we identified issues that
are likely to impact pollinators, either positively or negatively, over the coming three decades. Results. Our analysis highlights six high priority, and nine secondary issues.
High priorities are: (1) corporate control of global agriculture, (2) novel systemic
pesticides, (3) novel RNA viruses, (4) the development of new managed pollinators, (5)
more frequent heatwaves and drought under climate change, and (6) the potential positive
impact of reduced chemical use on pollinators in non-agricultural settings. Discussion.
While current pollinator management approaches are largely driven by mitigating past
impacts, we present opportunities for pre-emptive practice, legislation, and policy to
sustainably manage pollinators for future generations.
Sponsorship
The Horizon-scanning workshop was supported by Super-B, an EU COST-Action. MJFB was funded by the BBSRC (grant code BB/N000668/1). LVD was funded by the NERC (grant code NE/K015419/1). KCRB was funded by a NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellowship (grant code NE/M006956/1). ABB received funding from Macquarie University and USDA (Grant 58-5342-3-004F). BMF’s participation was supported through the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development-Brazil (No. 305126/2013-0). LJL’s participation was supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (No.31572338) and The Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program (CAAS-ASTIP-2016-IAR). PN was supported financially by the Vinetum Foundation. DEPs participation was supported through New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment contract no. C11X1309. RJP was funded by DFG grant Pa 632/10. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Funder references
NERC (NE/K015419/1)
Embargo Lift Date
2100-01-01
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2249
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/256922
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International, Attribution 4.0 International, Attribution 4.0 International
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