SPRING project paves the way for the implementation of a European pollinator monitoring plan
The study highlights the urgent need for a universal sampling methodology to monitor insects, such as those essential for food production.
English version: Diana Taborda
After one year of sampling pollinators in Portugal as part of the international SPRING project, several species of interest and with limited distribution were identified, reinforcing the urgent need to implement a universal sampling methodology to monitor these insects, which are essential, for example, for food production.
Led by the German Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, the project is coordinated in Portugal by a research team from the Centre for Functional Ecology of the Facutky of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra, with the participation of the Portuguese Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF); BIOPOLIS – CIBIO, Tagis – Portuguese Butterfly Conservation Centre; Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes of the University of Lisbon; Oeiras Municipality, and the University of the Azores.
The general objective of the SPRING project is to strengthen taxonomic capacity in EU Member States with regard to pollinating insects, and support preparation for the implementation of the EU Pollinator Monitoring Scheme “EU-PoMS”
In Portugal the monitoring of pollinators takes place on 6 sites, 5 on the mainland and 1 in the Azores archipelago. The implementation of this pilot project allows testing the basic methodologies for monitoring wild bees, butterflies and hover flies, using standard transects, trailed by scientists and volunteers, and coloured traps (also known as "pan-traps").
According to FCTUC researcher Sílvia Castro "the implementation of a universal sampling methodology on a national and European scale will certainly lead to new findings at the level of pollinator insect species and provide comparable monitoring data, which until now did not exist in our country".
Sónia Ferreira, researcher at the BIOPOLIS - CIBIO Association highlights that "there are indeed some species yet to be reported in Portugal and a very high number of species about which we know very little regarding their biology and ecology".
The insects collected from the pan traps are still being studied, but the observations made on the transects have already made it possible to find several species of interest and with limited distribution.
Monitoring in the Azores is in charge of the Azores Biodiversity Group. According to researcher Mário Boieiro, "monitoring in the Azores has made it possible to analyse not very diverse pollinator communities, but with various endemic species, this being the only site in the entire SPRING project that is representative of island ecosystems."
Although the first steps are still being taken for the future plan for monitoring pollinators on a European scale, "the involvement in the SPRING project is extremely important for Portugal because, besides contributing with different perspectives for the implementation of the methodology, it will encourage the training of young entomologists, who are so much needed in Portugal", concludes Sílvia Castro.
After the first year of sampling, the field work will resume in March 2023. Until then, several training sessions will take place, as well as the identification of the samples collected in 2022. Besides the process of preservation and study of the samples, the participants will have the opportunity to learn to distinguish species of bees and hover flies.