Objective
Pollinators form a key component of European biodiversity, and provide vital ecosystem services to crops and wild plants. There is growing evidence of declines in both wild and domesticated pollinators, and parallel declines in plants relying upon them. STEP will document the nature and extent of these declines, examine functional traits associated with particular risk, develop a Red List of some European pollinator groups, in particular bees and lay the groundwork for future pollinator monitoring programmes. We will also assess the relative importance of potential drivers of such change, including climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation, agrichemicals, pathogens, alien species, light pollution, and their interactions. We will measure the ecological and economic impacts of declining pollinator services and floral resources, including effects on wild plant populations, crop production and human nutrition. STEP will review existing and potential mitigation options, providing novel tests of their effectiveness across Europe. Our work will build upon existing datasets and models, complemented by spatially-replicated campaigns of field research to fill gaps in current knowledge. We will integrate our findings in a policy-relevant framework, creating Evidence-based Decision Support tools. We will also establish communication links to a wide range of stakeholders across Europe and beyond, including policy makers, beekeepers, farmers, academics and the general public. Taken together, our research programme will make great steps towards improving our understanding of the nature, causes, consequences and potential mitigation of declines in pollinator services at local, national, continental and global scales.
Fields of science
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculture
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
Programme(s)
Call for proposal
FP7-ENV-2009-1
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Funding Scheme
CP-FP - Small or medium-scale focused research projectCoordinator
RG6 6AH Reading
United Kingdom
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Participants (21)
04318 Leipzig
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750 07 Uppsala
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6708 PB Wageningen
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8000 Aarhus C
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LS2 9JT Leeds
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Participation ended
95447 Bayreuth
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75007 Paris
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3003 Bern
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00790 Helsinki
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22100 LUND
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28006 Madrid
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51005 Tartu
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1111 Sofia
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3012 Bern
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21000 Novi Sad
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7000 Mons
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31007 KRAKOW
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56126 Pisa
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81100 Mytilini
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97070 Wuerzburg
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2333 CR Leiden
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