Project description
Restoring the web of life in farmland
Across Europe’s farmlands, a quiet crisis unfolds. It is not just the loss of species, but the unravelling of vital relationships between plants and their pollinators. These interactions are essential for crop health and pest control, yet current conservation efforts often miss the mark. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the METAGROLAND project will explore how agri-environmental schemes (AES) can better support pollinator communities across landscapes. Using spatial meta-network analysis, researchers will identify key hubs where plant-pollinator interactions thrive. Beyond ecology, METAGROLAND also investigates how farmers’ social connections influence these dynamics. By weaving together ecological data and social insights, the project seeks to redesign AES for more resilient ecosystems, and for more sustainable food production.
Objective
Maintaining biodiversity in agricultural landscapes has become a pressing societal challenge. Species interactions contribute to critical agroecosystem functions such as pollination and pest control. However, scientific evidence suggests that the rate of loss of species interactions is even higher than the rate of species extinction. Agricultural policies promote agri-environmental schemes (AES) to halt biodiversity loss on farmland, but with varying degrees of success. For example, little is known about whether AES support the growth of wildlife populations, or whether they simply concentrate local populations while depleting surrounding areas. METAGROLAND project presents an innovative research agenda that pursues effective AES design at large scales by presenting a novel interdisciplinary framework: the study of plant-pollinator metacommunity dynamics in agricultural landscapes from a social-ecological perspective. This project will firstly investigate the ability of AES and other landscape elements to attract and maintain pollinator species across landscapes, thereby gaining a mechanistic understanding of sink-source dynamics in the metacommunity. Secondly, the metacommunity structure will be investigated by applying and improving a novel methodology: spatial meta-networks. This will allow the detection of landscape characteristics that promote metacommunity cohesion and stability by identifying those landscapes that act as spatial hubs for plant-pollinator interactions across space. Third, the impact of land managers' social networks on metacommunity dynamics will be assessed to provide guidelines for effective AES design based on the synthesis of ecological processes and social dynamics. Beyond new fundamental social-ecological knowledge of agricultural systems, the results of METAGROLAND will contribute to the advancement of biodiversity conservation and agroecological practices, ultimately promoting fair, healthy and environmentally sound food systems.
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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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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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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) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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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.
37073 Gottingen
Germany
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.