Project description
New research to help save the pollinators
Pollinator populations face a perilous decline and pesticides cast a shadow over their vital role in plant reproduction. Once considered a solution, pesticides exacerbate the decline. In this context, the EU-funded PollinERA project aims to reverse this trend by maintaining the ecosystem’s delicate balance. With four key objectives, PollinERA aims to bridge ecotoxicological data gaps, implement a co-monitoring scheme, develop predictive models and adopt a systems-based approach for comprehensive risk assessment. The project’s framework broadens the scope to include butterflies, moths and hoverflies. Expert consortium partners foster collaboration with European bodies. Overall, the anticipated impacts transcend biodiversity research, promising a profound understanding of biodiversity decline drivers and an ecosystem-level exploration of the biodiversity and health nexus.
Objective
PollinERA aims to reverse pollinator population declines and reduce the harmful impacts of pesticides. It addresses the call through four objectives: SO1 filling ecotoxicological data gaps to enable realistic prediction of the source and routes of exposure and impact of pesticides on pollinators and their sensitivity to individual pesticides and mixtures. SO2 developing and testing a co-monitoring scheme for pesticides and pollinators across European cropping systems and landscapes, developing risk indicators and mixture exposure information. SO3 developing models for predicting pesticide toxicological effects on pollinators for chemicals and organisms, environmental fate, toxicokinetic/toxicodynamic, and population models. SO4 developing a population-level systems-based approach to risk and policy assessment considering multiple stressors and long-term spatiotemporal dynamics at the landscape scale and generating an open database for pollinator/pesticide data and tools.
This will be achieved through developing knowledge and protocols for a broad range of toxicological testing, feeding to in silico models (QSARS, toxicokinetic/toxicodynamic, and population). Using a strong stakeholder co-development approach, these models will be combined in a One System framework taking a systems view on risk assessment and policy evaluation, including an international monitoring program.
The One System framework is based on EFSA’s system ERA view, expanding on the tools used for bees to include butterflies, moths and hoverflies. The consortium partners are experts in the field needed for this development and are well-placed to facilitate the uptake of tools by European bodies to guarantee the project's future impact.
Expected impacts target Destination impacts of better understanding and addressing drivers of biodiversity decline, interconnected biodiversity research using digital technologies, and understanding the biodiversity and health nexus at the ecosystem level.
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark