Land-use induced eco-evolutionary response in pollinating insects: concerns for management of pollination services

consequences for pollination services are established. Mitigation, however, remains elusive
due to limited understanding of the ecological and evolutionary processes that underpin insect
responses to land-use. The long-term perspective is particularly called for as evidence for
land-use-driven rapid insect evolution is accumulating but its effect on pollination and
implications for policy and management are unknown. We propose to assemble a team of
BECC researchers with a wide variety of expertise that will support a postdoctoral researcher
to determine how plant-pollinator communities respond to changes in agricultural land-use.
We will model eco-evolutionary responses of insect-mediated pollination services, policy, and
management. We will build on research developed by team members and combine empirical
and theoretical knowledge into mathematical models. We will identify the causal and
mechanistic link between landscape heterogeneity and the function and stability of insect-
mediated services. We will connect modelling with concepts in agricultural and
environmental economics to determine policy implications. Inter-disciplinary connections are
difficult to study empirically, putting the proposed research at the interface between
theoretical and applied agro-ecology. We will develop novel insight on ecosystem
vulnerability valuable to management and policy strategies that aim at maintaining important
pollination services.

This project is financed by BECC.