Tag: nature

Tired of the winter blues? Read about our summer of farmland pollinator surveys!

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Written by Dr Sarah Larragy, Postdoctoral researcher in Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, working on the EU-funded RestPoll project, and Moya Owens, Research Assistant in Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, working on the ANTENNA project.

As we trudge our way through the dark and grey wintertime, it is no wonder we are reminiscing over sunny, insect-filled days. The People and Nature group saw a very busy season last summer, which brought us to and from farms all around the Co. Kildare area to conduct pollinator research! Our travelling troupe of bug catchers this summer included:
• Dr Sarah Larragy (post-doc, RestPoll)
• Fernanda Azevedo (PhD student, RestPoll)
• Moya Owens (Research Assistant, ANTENNA)
• Michalis Cristou (Biodiversity and Conservation MSc student)
• Sarah Browne (Research Assistant)
• Katie Gahan (Research Assistant)
• Daan Mathijssen (Summer intern)
• Sirus Rasti (Erasmus plus student)

Figure 1 The TCD RestPoll fieldwork team (a lovely bunch 😊 – thanks for all your help!)


This work contributed to two pollinator-related EU projects being conducted by members of the lab:
• RestPoll: Restoring pollinator habitats across European agricultural landscapes (see Sarah’s blog here)
• ANTENNA: Making technology work for monitoring pollinators (see Moya’s blog here)

RestPoll field work

As part of RestPoll, we are collecting field data to see if restoration measures for pollinators are effective. Many of our farms were previously involved in Protecting Farmland Pollinators and carry out many practices that are likely to benefit our busy bees and other pollinators. These biodiversity friendly actions include reduced hedgerow cutting, reducing or eliminating insecticide use, increasing the area of field margins and letting ‘weeds’ grow in unfarmed areas.
To conduct our RestPoll field work, it was clear we were in for an intense season of insect counting (tough work but someone’s got to do it!). The traditional methods for surveying pollinators generally involve a transect walk – this is where one walks at a slow pace while keeping their eyes peeled for any bees, hoverflies or butterflies that pass through their path. Once we spot a pollinator, we note down the species and – should we spot them enjoying a floral treat – the plant species it visits. Over the summer, we conducted three rounds of pollinator transects and floral coverage surveys across 21 beef and tillage farms in the Co. Kildare region – and have the farmers’ tans to prove it!
Antenna field work

Overlapping with the RestPoll fieldwork was the much more technologically-advanced project, ANTENNA, conducted by Moya Owens (supervised by TCD alumni Dr Jessica Knapp, now based in Lund University!). Pollinator surveys have been conducted across 6 different countries in Europe, which included four rounds of surveys on five different sites in Co. Kildare.
ANTENNA is investigating the feasibility of using fancy, solar-powered cameras to conduct pollinator monitoring. It aims to compare these high-tech approaches to traditional methods, like transecting and pan trapping. While transects are the traditional and usually the core methodology for any pollinator monitoring project, there are limitations such as not being able to see, or identify, everything you spot in the field. Oftentimes, you need to catch an insect to find out what species it is, and sometimes this requires careful examination under microscopes. Also, insects can often be difficult to catch. You may not think it, but chasing a butterfly down in a field full of boisterous cattle or waist-high wheat is a surprisingly humbling experience. Indeed, Sarah L. faced an unusually specific conundrum one day when a cow made off with her butterfly net, presumably for its own scientific pursuits.
Other traditional methods, such as pan-trapping (multi-coloured buckets of soapy solution to catch insects) have the downfall of being a form of attractant, lethal sampling – an approach we are trying to reduce to mitigate negative effects on pollinator populations. Considering these limitations, technological approaches may be a solution to gathering much needed data on pollinator richness and abundance trends, as traditional methods are time-consuming and often require some level of lethal sampling.
The cameras being tested in ANTENNA were a DIOPSIS 2.0 Insect Camera (Fig. 2A, Fig. 3) and a MiniMon camera (Fig. 2B).

Figure 2 Cameras being used in ANTENNA project include a DIOPSIS 2.0 Insect Camera (A) and a MiniMon camera (B).

The DIOPSIS camera is a fully automated system designed to detect, monitor and document insect populations, produced by Faunabit in The Netherlands. When an insect lands on the yellow screen, the camera captures high resolution images which are then uploaded to a server via Wi-Fi. Images are then processed using the image recognition model developed by Naturalis.
In terms of the MiniMon camera, this was developed by the ANTENNA team, with the aim of being a user-friendly, cost-effective camera. Unlike the DIOPSIS camera, which monitors continuously, the MiniMon camera takes a burst of five pictures every minute. As shown in Fig. 1, there is a custom-made flower plate containing 3-D printed artificial flowers which attract insects. As well as recording insects we found, we also took note of floral coverage around each stake (2m radius).

Figure 3 Katie, Sarah B. and Moya did trojan work bringing these cameras around to different sites to conduct 6-hour bouts of surveying! Here they are on day one of successfully setting up the DIOPSIS camera.

Fun finds
Over the course of the summer, we found some amazing insects, from painted lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui) to orange-tailed mining bees (Andrena haemorrhoa). Below we share with you our catches of the season!
Research Assistant Sarah B.’s main memories from this season include finding the Common Tiger hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus; Fig 4 A) and peacock butterfly (Aglais io). Another stand out moment from the summer was finding 5 small tortoise shell (Aglais urticae) butterflies on field scabious (Knautia arvensis). Katie Gahan, another Research Assistant working with us this summer, enjoyed the field full of common spotted orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii).

Figure 4 Some of our fun finds during field work season! A. Common tiger hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus). B. Common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsia). C. The large carder bumblebee (Bombus muscorum). D. Many tortoiseshell butterflies (Aglais urticae) foraging on field scabius (Knautia arvensis). E. Peacock butterfly (Aglais io). F. A new buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) queen.

“My catch of the season was finally seeing a Large Carder Bee (Bombus muscorum) for the first time! I caught a male on one of the last days of surveying, which was even more exciting as it meant I got to hold him since males don’t sting! After I caught this one, we saw a couple more flying along the transect which was super exciting. This was probably the best day in the field for me!” – Moya

Figure 5 Moya only delighted with the male Bombus muscorum she found!

“My fun find is not exactly rare, but it is very beautiful – it is the buff-tailed bumblebee queen. In this picture we see a new queen who is likely preparing for her upcoming winter diapause by stocking up on nectar and pollen. I studied buff-tailed bumblebees during my PhD, so I always enjoy seeing these beautiful (and huge!) queens during such a vital part of their lifecycle. I also really loved seeing so many butterflies out after several mild seasons – a particular favourite was the painted lady butterfly (Fig. 6)” – Sarah L.
“I remember a day during our third round of surveys on Kepak farm where there were so many butterflies of different species out – it was really beautiful!” – Fernanda

Figure 6 A painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui).

A big thank you to the field work team for all their hard work this summer, it is so appreciated! And a sincere thank you to the farmers who let us come and count insects on their farms (and sometimes treated us to cups of tea!) – we couldn’t do this work without your support!

PhD opportunity: Ponds for pollinators

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Teagasc PhD Walsh Scholars Opportunity: “Ponds for Pollinators”
Walsh Scholars Ref Number: 2025033

The Teagasc Farmland Biodiversity Group led by Dr Saorla Kavanagh, (Department of Environment, Soils and Land Use, Johnstown Castle) invites applications for a fully funded 4-year PhD. The PhD candidate will be registered at Trinity College Dublin and co-supervised by Professor Jane Stout, Professor of Ecology, School of Natural Sciences.

Project Background and Description
Pollinator decline is a key threat to biodiversity conservation and the provision of ecosystem services. One third of Ireland’s bee species are under threat, with intensification and homogenisation of agricultural landscapes considered the principal driver. Diversifying habitats and understanding farmer attitudes towards biodiversity are key to halting further pollinator decline. Semi-natural habitats on the farm, for example, hedgerows, woodlands and trees, and wetland areas including ponds can provide valuable food and nesting resources for pollinators. In Ireland, there is little data on just how valuable ponds are for pollinators. Restoring biodiversity-friendly habitats and designing evidence-based actions that benefit biodiversity on the farm are crucial to meet the requirements of the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy and Nature Restoration Regulation, and to inform Policy for Agri-Environment measures.
The aim of this PhD is to identify the benefits of ponds for pollinators, and gain an understanding of farmers’ knowledge of farmland biodiversity. Barriers around implementing biodiversity measures on the farm and solutions to these barriers will be identified.


Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate will:

  • Hold at least an upper second class honours (or equivalent) Bachelor or Masters degree in,
    entomology, plant science, zoology, environmental science, or another related discipline
  • Have demonstrable analytical skills in the field and/or laboratory, and in data handling, analysis
    and presentation
  • Have the capacity/willingness to think critically and creatively, and apply multidisciplinary
    techniques to address hypothesis-driven questions
  • Work well in a multi-disciplinary team, and be able to work independently
  • Have excellent oral and written communication skills
  • Be willing to travel to field sites to conduct fieldwork and interact with landowners/farmers
  • Hold a full clean driving licence and able to drive in Ireland
  • Meet Trinity postgraduate entry requirements. See English language requirements here.

Funding
This is a 4-year PhD project funded by the Teagasc Walsh Scholar Programme and covers an annual stipend of €25,000, and student fees of up to a maximum of €6,000. Project costs will be covered.


Application procedure
Please send a CV and a 1-2 page personal statement detailing your interest in the project Tuesday, June 24th 2025 via email to Dr Saorla Kavanagh saorla.kavanagh@teagasc.ie quoting the reference number (2025037) in the subject field. Your CV should include the name and contact details of two references. In your personal statement, please explain both why you are specifically interested in this PhD project and why you are a strong candidate to undertake it. Interviews will take place (online) Friday, July 4th 2025.


Project start date: September 2025
Please send all inquiries to Dr Saorla Kavanagh Saorla.kavanagh@teagasc.ie

New Research – Ask a Farmer

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Pollinators are an important part of the world’s biodiversity, responsible for pollinating crops and wild plants, providing a valuable ecosystem service (Potts, 2010). Despite its importance, it is evident the global decline of the wild and domesticated species of pollinators (Potts, 2010). In Ireland, 30% of pollinator species are classified as threatened with extinction (Fitzpatrick et al., 2007), which jeopardises the country’s food production since the decline of pollinators means the decline of pollinator-dependent plant species (Potts, 2010).

78% of Europe’s flowering plants benefit from animal pollination, as do 71% of the crops that supply 90% of the world’s food.  However, modern agriculture contributes to the decline of pollinator species through the application of agrochemicals and the conversion to highly productive monocultures (Russo et al., 2022). In a country like Ireland, where nearly 70% of land is managed for agriculture, and the agri-food sector is one of the country’s biggest industries, contributing in 2020 with 7% of the country’s gross income, plus 10% of exports (Government of Ireland, 2021), this is a pertinent issue.

Figure 1: Hedgerow managed for pollinators in an arable farm in Kildare.

The decline of bees not only impacts human life with agriculture and food security, but also the entire ecosystem, as without their action, there is a decline in ecosystem services. It means that, for example, wildlife does not have access to fruits and seeds, which interferes with nutrient cycling, seed dispersal and adaptation to climate change (All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, 2021). Furthermore, pollinator conservation has beneficial effects on pest control, soil erosion and microclimate regulation, which helps to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis and biodiversity loss (All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, 2021).

Figure 2: A green-veined butterfly (Pieris napi) on hedgerow Hawthorn (Crateagus monogyna).

According to Russo et al. (2022), it is extremely important to take conservation actions that protect the remaining high-quality habitats and improve the quality of degraded systems by identifying central organisms in the plant-pollinator network that can support the pair’s diversity and abundance.

A key challenge facing biodiversity conservation is human behaviour and the factors that govern its change (Marselle et al., 2020; Schultz, 2011; Knapp et al., 2020). However, Knapp et al. (2020) identified that when developing conservation strategies, natural scientists often disregard social factors affecting the human decision-making process to favour ecological evidence. This is particularly interesting because the implementation of conservation practices is majorly voluntary (Witzling et al., 2021) and, therefore, relies on a human decision.

Ignoring the social aspect of the conservation problem creates a gap between the ecological solutions and the implementation of these solutions by individuals, communities and society in general. This gap demands interdisciplinary approaches combining the understanding of the social pressures and norms that shape behaviour, the psychological reasons behind such behaviours, and the ecological solutions that can improve conservation behaviours.

Farms cover 67.6% of the Ireland’s area (EPA, 2022); therefore, taking into consideration farmers’ experience and knowledge of the land to adapt the already in place actions to a more comprehensive and user-friendly action plan is extremely important for a real impact in not only conserving the pollinators but also reversing the trend and restore pollinators in the country. 

Figure 3: A bumblebee foraging on a Yellow Oxeye (Telekia speciosa).

Ask a Farmer is a PhD research project that will contribute to closing the gap between farmers’ actions and the ecological solutions to reverse pollinator decline using the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan (AIPP) as a case study, expanding the traditional, evidence-based conservation research and increasing the uptake and perpetuation of the AIPP. Adopting a holistic perspective that acknowledges the diverse and plural values individuals and societies attribute to nature (IPBES, 2022), and understanding the wide range of social factors (beyond finance). These social factors shape farmer motivation, capabilities and opportunities, influencing their behaviour around pollinator interventions and policies.

This will be possible by first developing a socio-psychological model to identify and quantify the social factors, including historical context, well-being, finance, social norms and identity, influencing the behaviour of the farmers. Then, the social effectiveness of the pollinator-friendly actions proposed by the AIPP (figure 4) will be tested by evaluating what is being done in real-life farms, integrating the recommendations and the experience of a lifetime in the field. Finally, developing a strategy that integrates social and ecological perspectives to increase the number of farmers adopters of the AIPP, ensuring a continuation of the program and enhancing pollinator conservation in Ireland and beyond.

Figure 4: Five pollinator-friendly actions proposed by the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan.

            This May marks the beginning of the 2025 field season, during which the team started visiting the partner farms to collect ecological data on pollinators and interview the farmers about their perspectives on conservation actions, particularly pollinator conservation. A very ‘beezy’ summer ahead!

Figure 5:  The team on our first day of the field season 2025. Dr. Sarah Larragy (front), Moya Owens (standing), and Fernanda Azevedo (sitting).

About the author:

Fernanda ‘Fern’ Azevedo is a first-year PhD researcher funded by the Trinity Research Doctorate Award, supervised by Professor Jane Stout, Dr. Jessica Knapp and Dr. Sarah Larragy. Her doctoral research builds on the themes she explored during her MSc in Biodiversity and Conservation at Trinity College Dublin, supervised by Dr. Jessica Knapp.

References:

All-Ireland Pollinator Plan (2021) All-Ireland Pollinator Plan 2021-2025. National Biodiversity Data Centre, Waterford. Available at pollinators.ie (Last accessed on 07/05/2025).

EPA (2022) Ireland’s Environment: Maps and Charts – Key Message 13: Land use.Available at:  epa.ie (Last accessed on 07/05/2025).

Fitzpatrick, U., Murray, T.E., Paxton, R.J., Breen, J., Cotton, D., Santorum, V., Brown, M.J.F. (2007) Rarity and decline in bumblebees – A test of causes and correlates in the Irish fauna. Biological Conservation, 136(2): 185-194. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2006.11.012

Government of Ireland (2021) Climate Action Plan 2021: Securing our Future. Dublin. Available at: gov.ie/pdf (Last accessed on 07/05/2025).

IPBES. (2022) Summary for Policymakers of the Methodological Assessment of the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6522392

Knapp, J.L., Phillips, B.B., Clements, J., Shaw, R.F., Osborne, J.L. (2020) Socio-psychological factors, beyond knowledge, predict people’s engagement in pollinator conservation. People and Nature, pp. 204–220. DOI: 10.1002/pan3.10168

Marselle, M.R., Turbe, A., Shwartz, A., Bonn, A., Colléony, A. (2020) Addressing behaviour in pollinator conservation policies to combat the implementation gap. Conservation Biology. Vol 35 (2), 610-622. DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13581

Potts, S.G., Biesmeijer, J.C., Kremen, C., Neumann, P., Schweiger, O., Kunin, W.E. (2010) Global pollinator declines: trends, impacts and drivers. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Vol.25, 6, 345-353. DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2010.01.007

Russo, L., Fitzpatrick, Ú., Larkin, M., Mullen, S., Power, E., Stanley, D., White, C., O’Rourke, A., & Stout, J. C. (2022).  Conserving diversity in Irish plant–pollinator networks. Ecology and Evolution, 12, e9347. DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9347

Schultz, P.W. (2011) Conservation means behavior. Conservation Biology, 25 (6), 1080–1083. DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2011.01766.x

Witzling, L., Wald, D., Williams, E. (2021) Communicating with farmers about conservation practices: lessons learned from a systematic review of survey studies. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. Vol. 76(5), 00145. DOI: 10.2489/jswc.2021.00145

Bees in the Trees

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by Kate Harrington, PhD student, FOREST project, Trinity College Dublin

The pollinator community of young woodland sites, planted in farmlands under the Native Woodland Scheme (DAFM, 2024), was explored in the summer of 2023. We used pan trap and transect surveys to record and capture bees and hoverflies , looking at both the edges and centres of the woodlands, and we also looked at pollinator activity and floral resources. 

Pollinators, as might be expected,  forage mainly on the edges of the woodlands. The Native Woodland Scheme prescribes the planting of flowering species around the edges which support our native pollinator species, and seem to be particularly important for solitary bees in the spring.  The grassy edges, released from agriculture pressure, and unmanaged hedgerows, also contribute to the floral resources available for pollinators.    

Bombus pratorum resting on a hazel leaf

With a range of sites of different ages, we were able to look at how the pollinator fauna changed across the development of a woodland from an open habitat to one with a closed-tree canopy. 

A young native woodland plantation

With a range of sites of different ages, we were able to look at how the pollinator fauna changed across the development of a woodland from an open habitat to one with a closed-tree canopy. 

Native woodland spring plant-pollinator network

It has been suggested that functional groups such as pollinators may be particularly useful as ecological indicators.  With the rush to plant native trees as a solution to the biodiversity and climate crises, monitoring the success of these restoration initiatives is crucial, and we may need to look beyond simple habitat metrics (Marshall, 2024).  Our findings suggest that if we were to use pollinators as a monitoring metric for woodland sites, that bees may be a better indicator than hoverflies, as the latter respond more to landscape-level changes, while bees may better reflect any site-level changes. 

DAFM. (2024). Afforestation Scheme 2023-2027 Document. April 2024. Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/6e997-afforestation-scheme/

Marshall, C. A. M., Wade, K., Kendall, I. S., Porcher, H., Poffley, J., Bladon, A. J., Dicks, L. V., & Treweek, J. (2024). England’s statutory biodiversity metric enhances plant, but not bird nor butterfly, biodiversity. Journal of Applied Ecology, 1365-2664.14697. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14697

Mola, J. M., Hemberger, J., Kochanski, J., Richardson, L. L., & Pearse, I. S. (2021). The Importance of Forests in Bumble Bee Biology and Conservation. BioScience, 71(12), 1234–1248. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biab121

RestPoll: Restoring pollinator habitats across European agricultural landscapes

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Dr Sarah Larragy, post-doctoral researcher working on RestPoll, TCD.

We are making strides on our work as part of the Horizon Europe funded project called “RestPoll” (https://www.restpoll.eu). The name of our project, RestPoll, stands for “Restoring Pollinator habitats across European agricultural landscapes”. Among its 31 partners are both natural and social scientists from research institutions across Europe, alongside professionals from ministries, NGOs and businesses. Our partners represent 14 countries in Europe.

What is the goal of this project?

The mission of this project is to restore and increase connectivity between habitats for pollinators to help reverse the decline of these essential insects and the important pollinating services they provide. It also hopes to investigate co-benefits of pollinator restoration to various sectors of society as well as incentives and barriers (e.g. in policy) to pollinator restoration. In doing this, RestPoll will help fill the necessary knowledge gaps that will help to enable and support members of society to reverse pollinator decline.

How will we do it?

A core part of this project is to establish, in each participating partner country, case study areas that contain ‘living lab’ sites. With this network of living labs established, RestPoll will assess how actions taken to help restore pollinator habitats impact both pollinators and people alike.

What is a living lab? A living lab is a setting where “experiments, research, and innovation take place in real-life contexts, often involving end-users or stakeholders directly”.

Aligning with other Irish research:

RestPoll is aligned with, and part of, the Research Ireland-funded BiOrbic Bioeconomy Centre (https://biorbic.com/), specifically the Healthy Ecosystems Challenge. Healthy, functioning, biodiverse ecosystems underpin the bioeconomy, particularly in agricultural landscapes.

In addition, RestPoll is working with the FarmBioNet project https://farmbionet.eu/, which is a Farmer-focused Biodiversity and Agricultural Knowledge Network, which brings together stakeholders for researching, implementing and supporting Biodiversity Friendly Farming practices.

RestPoll Updates so far:

Establishing Irish Case Study Area:

Last summer, I began reaching out to farmers to see about monitoring pollinators on their farms. Many of the farmers had previously been involved in an EIP project called ‘Protecting Farmland Pollinators’ (NBDC, Project Manager Dr Saorla Kavanagh), and so were already taking actions to restore habitats for pollinators on their farms, including reduced hedgerow cutting, reduced pesticide use and having pollinator friendly trees, to name a few.

The summer involved many farm walks and chats over cups of tea with farmers to tell them more about the RestPoll project and, most importantly, to learn more about their perspectives on biodiversity conservation in agriculture. With the help of Research Assistant, Claire Kearney, and Erasmus+ student, Anna-Sonia Anastasiadou, a trial round of pollinator surveys was also carried out.

First Irish RestPoll Living Lab workshop:

In Sept 2024, we ran our first Living Lab workshop on a participating farm site in Athy. Among attendees were farmers, researchers and a representative from DAFM. Attendees received an overview of the RestPoll project and our plans and heard the reflections on the key successes of the Protecting Farmland Pollinators project from Dr Saorla Kavanagh, before delving into discussions around biodiversity conservation in agriculture. A farm walk also took place, led by our host Andrew Bergin, tillage farmer and Farming For Nature Ambassador. For a more detailed summary of this workshop and the discussions that took place, follow this link.

Watch this space…

This year, we will be conducting three rounds of pollinator and floral surveys on participating farms in the Co. Kildare region. Also on our pollinator monitoring team are PhD student Fernanda Azevedo and Moya Owens, research assistant working on the “Antenna” project. Over the summer, we also hope to trial out a rapid assessment tool with some farmers to help RestPoll develop an easy-to-use tool to quickly monitor pollinators. A second living lab workshop is also due to take place this Autumn, where we can update our Living Lab network on our progress.

For more information about RestPoll or if you are interested in getting involved, email Sarah at slarragy@tcd.ie.

Claire Kearney (L) and Anna-Sonia Anastasiadou (R) happy after a long day of pollinator surveys. August, 2024.