In response to evidence of insect pollinator declines, organisations in many sectors, including the food and farming industry, are investing in pollinator conservation. They are keen to ensure that their efforts use the best available science. We convened a group of 32 ‘conservation practitioners’ with an active interest in pollinators and 16 insect pollinator scientists. The conservation practitioners include representatives from UK industry (including retail), environmental non-government organisations and nature conservation agencies. We collaboratively developed a long list of 246 knowledge needs relating to conservation of wild insect pollinators in the UK. We refined and selected the most important knowledge needs, through a three-stage process of voting and scoring, including discussions of each need at a workshop. We present the top 35 knowledge needs as scored by conservation practitioners or scientists. We find general agreement in priorities identified by these two groups. The priority knowledge needs will structure ongoing work to make science accessible to practitioners, and help to guide future science policy and funding. Understanding the economic benefits of crop pollination, basic pollinator ecology and impacts of pesticides on wild pollinators emerge strongly as priorities, as well as a need to monitor floral resources in the landscape
and plant species. Treatments that are more durable may allow stenotopic spider assemblages to develop in contrast to shorter-lived treatments. Effectiveness of earlysuccessional habitat networks within regions supporting European lowland heathland will be enhanced by physical disturbance and turf stripping. Our results emphasise the importance of examining multiple taxonomic groups when assessing management outcomes.
SummaryFieldwork aimed at censusing Gumey's Pitta Pitta gumeyi in Peninsular Thailand was carried out over three field seasons. Fourteen sites were surveyed, at four of which the species was found. The main site (where it had been rediscovered in 1986) held 24-34 pairs, 12-18 of which were in the 500 ha study area. A second site held 3-6 pairs (but it is thought unlikely that this population still exists today), whilst the other two sites held only two pairs each and were thought to have negligible chances of survival. All territories were in semi-evergreen rainforest, below 150 m altitude. The current population is probably some 20-30 pairs, with territories still being lost annually to deforestation. This is currently the total known world population; it is possible that the species may survive in southern Burma, but no recent surveys have been undertaken there. Furthermore, massive deforestation caused by Thai timber companies has been reported from Burma during 1988Burma during -1993. The interpretation of census results are discussed, particularly with reference to social organization and calling seasonality. The determined protection of the one remaining site supporting a viable population will be essential if the species is to survive into the next century.
The yellow early marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. ochroleuca) is critically endangered in the UK. Reintroduction of this threatened orchid to former haunts that have been restored is a long-term objective of this study. Identifying germination-specific mycorrhizal fungus lineages from closely related species is used as a method due to the extremely small number of plants left in the wild. A putative orchid mycorrhizal fungus of the family Tulasnellaceae, isolated from Dactylorhiza praetermissa, supported in vitro seed germination to produce reintroduction-ready seedlings. Reintroduced symbiotic seedlings survived over the winter months in the flooded reintroduction site (RS). The comparative soil analysis for key nutrients before reintroduction showed that phosphorus content in the RS is very low compared to the soil collected from the wild site (WS) where the last viable population exists. On the other hand, C:N ratio in the soil at the WS and RS were not significantly different. To our knowledge, this is the first-ever report on the reintroduction of symbiotic seedlings of a threatened orchid back to the wild in the UK.
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