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They create a highway of 150,000 hectares for the "traveling" insects of the United Kingdom

2022-07-06T18:06:01.690Z


Flying insects in the UK will now have 150,000 hectares of wildflower meadows to recharge with energy and nectar.


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0:31

Editor's Note:

This story was identified by Patricia Zurita, CEO of BirdLife International, guest editor for Call to Earth's "Highways of Nature" issue.

(CNN) --

Imagine traveling great distances across a barren desert with no access to food or water.

That is the difficult reality facing many flying insects in the UK.


The country's insect populations are declining dramatically.

The results of a recent study by the conservation group Buglife and the Kent Wildlife Trust reveal that the number of flying insects in the UK has fallen by almost 60% in the last 17 years.

Some 20 species of bees and wasps have become extinct in the last 100 years, and half of the UK's butterfly species are threatened, according to the charity Butterfly Conservation.

Globally, up to 10% of insect species are threatened with extinction.

The devastation is linked to multiple factors, including climate change and pesticide use, while huge areas of key habitat have been lost to intensive farming and other development, says Jamie Robins, director of programs at Buglife.

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Since the 1930s, the UK has lost 97% of its wildflower meadows.

This not only affects pollinating insects, but also the animals that feed on them, such as birds, hedgehogs and bats.

"Even though our countryside looks green and beautiful and vibrant, if there aren't many flowers it's quite a harsh environment for our insects to move around easily," says Kate Jones, Buglife's Curator.

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They solve a mystery about the evolution of flowers 16:20

rest stops

Buglife has identified 150,000 hectares of land across the UK that it wants to restore as wildflower meadows.

The hope is that these grasslands can connect to form a national network of insect "travellers," called "B-lines," that will provide nectar-rich stops for pollinators.

These flower "stations" should be no more than 300 meters apart, "based on the average travel distance of a solitary bee, to make sure it can move from one site to another," Robins explains.

The “B-lines” project, funded in part by the National Lottery Estate Fund and the Green Recovery Challenge Fund, began in 2011. Using software developed by the University of Washington, Buglife mapped the best connections between existing wildflower sites across the UK and created the first nationwide 'B-lines' map, which was released in March 2021.

Buglife Curator Kate Jones inspecting a bee in a wildflower-rich meadow in Shropshire, UK.

So far, B-lines has restored just over 2,500 hectares of meadows rich in wildflowers on the network.

But it's only a small percentage of the planned 150,000 hectares, and restoring the wildflowers can be difficult.

Claire Carvell, an ecologist at the UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology, says that native wildflowers tend to have difficulty establishing themselves in areas of rich, fertile farmland, and that pollinators often need a diverse range of flowers in all areas. seasons.

Another major challenge is that the network crosses public and private land, both in urban areas and in the countryside, so the project has enlisted the help of wildlife trusts, local authorities, and farmers and estate owners.

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Buglife offers farmers and homeowners guidance on growing meadows rich in wildflowers, along with a 10-year maintenance plan.

“They are the ones who can really make a difference. They can give up small areas of their land to wildflowers and restore the habitat that they have,” says Robins.

Separately, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is encouraging landowners and farmers to restore habitats by funding the planting and management of wildflowers through the recent Environmental Land Management Scheme. .

Carvell believes that the B-lines initiative is providing effective training and support to farmers and councils in the restoration process and is an important complement to government-led incentives.

A wide variety of wild flowers can be seen in the meadows at Melverley in Shropshire, UK.

He adds that planting hedgerows and meadows rich in wildflowers not only helps insects, but also farmers.

“We have a lot of evidence that farmers benefit from managing their land that is positive for bees, positive for flies and also positive for all predatory insects or insects that provide almost a natural pest control service to their crops” , it states.

Research published by the UK's Royal Society suggests that creating wildflower habitats on former farmland would have no adverse effect on crop yields over a five-year period, and could even increase it.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, nearly 75% of the world's crops depend on pollination, so conserving pollinators through meadows rich in wildflowers is essential for food security.

The public can even get involved by adding their own wildflower habitats to the B-lines map via the Buglife website.

Whether it's a flower-filled garden or a pot of wildflowers by the window, pollinators and insects will enjoy it, Jones says.

"We all have a role to play," he adds.

"To be able to contribute something is wonderful."

ConservationPollinating insects

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-07-06

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