Insect Pollinators Initiative

The Insect Pollinators Initiative was launched on 22 June 2010

For more information on the projects funded under the Initiative see http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/pollinators/

Importance of insects

Insects contribute substantially to the pollination of a wide variety of cultivated and wild plants, and play important roles in both crop production and the maintenance of natural ecosystems. However, there is evidence that populations of managed and wild insect pollinators are currently declining in the UK and elsewhere, in the face of threats from rapid changes in the environment such as emerging pests and diseases, habitat loss, intensive agriculture and climate change. An evidence base is needed to inform the conservation of wild insect pollinators and to improve the husbandry of managed species, in order to avoid the potentially catastrophic loss of the ecosystem services they provide.

With a common recognition of the importance of honey bees and other insects in the pollination of food crops and wild plants, and in the light of concerns about recent widespread declines in their abundance, a consortium of five funders has come together in a joint initiative to support research into the causes and consequences of threats to pollinators, and to inform the development of appropriate mitigation strategies. Each of the five partners has a different mission and remit, but all of them agree that there is an urgent need for innovative research to provide a basis for reducing current declines and sustaining healthy and diverse populations of pollinating insects for the future.

Initiative purpose

The purpose of the Insect Pollinators Initiative (IPI) is to promote innovative research aimed at understanding and mitigating the biological and environmental factors that adversely affect insect pollinators. The causes of pollinator declines are likely to be multifactorial, involving complex interactions between pollinators, their pests and pathogens, and the environment. Multidisciplinary and systems-based approaches will be important in elucidating them. In particular, the funders are keen to bring to bear on these issues - alongside the expertise of the existing pollinator research community - relevant new skills such as state-of-the-art and high-throughput “post-genomic” technologies, and the latest techniques in epidemiological and ecological modelling.

Funders and partners

Collectively, BBSRC, DEFRA, NERC, the Scottish Government and the Wellcome Trust will commit up to £10M over five years to support multidisciplinary research under the auspices of the LWEC partnership, in an initiative that aligns with several of LWEC’s six strategic objectives, in particular, those concerned with the implications of environmental change for ecosystem services (LWEC challenge B), food and water supply (LWEC challenge C), and plant, animal and human health (LWEC challenge D). The scope of the initiative includes all insect pollinators, both managed and wild.