Project description
The pollination strategy of bees
Understanding the foraging patterns and interactions of bees is important to both ecologists and economists. The EU-funded BEE-MOVE project will apply an interdisciplinary approach, combining pollinator behaviour and plant ecology, to link pollinator movements to pollination efficiency. A new radar system will record and analyse the individual movements of hundreds of bees foraging simultaneously. In addition, radar and robotic plants will be used to study how bees search and exploit food resources over several square kilometres. This information will be applied to computational agent-based models to investigate the influence of bee spatial strategies on pollination efficiency. The results will inform the design of practical interventions for conservation, sustainable agriculture, and green development to help stem pollinator decline.
Objective
How pollinators, such as bees, exploit plaHow pollinators, such as bees, exploit plant resources is a fundamental question in biology, with deep ecological, economical and societal consequences. When foraging on flowers, pollinators transfer pollen and mediate the reproduction of plants on which most animals (including us humans) rely on. Understanding the spatial foraging strategies and interactions of pollinators across the landscape is thus a critical scientific challenge to discover their influence on plant mating patterns and pollination efficiency. BEE-MOVE will use an interdisciplinary approach to mechanistically link pollinator movements to pollination efficiency at field scales, thereby crossing boundaries between research on pollinator behaviour and plant ecology. I will focus on two key pollinators worldwide: the buff-tailed bumblebee and the Western honey bee. 1) I will develop a new radar system to record and analyse the individual 3D movements of hundreds of bees foraging simultaneously. 2) I will use arrays of communicating radars and robotic plants to study how bees search and exploit food resources in field setups of several square kilometres, by manipulating key environmental factors such as the density of bees, the 3D distribution of plants, and the nutritional content of nectars and pollens. 3) From these observations, I will build computational agent-based models to investigate the influence of bee spatial strategies on pollination efficiency. Critical experiments will test model predictions in populations of natural plants. The dialogue between observations and simulations will create a positive feedback towards a robust, multi-level understanding of plant-pollinator interactions at the scale of landscapes. In addition to exploring entirely new grounds in pollination ecology, my results could be used to design practical interventions for conservation, sustainable agriculture and green development in the worrying context of pollinator declines.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences ecology landscape ecology
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering information engineering telecommunications radio technology radar
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2020-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
75794 PARIS
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.