Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Design and Planning of a Transdisciplinary Investigation into Farmland Pollinators : Rationale, Co-Design, and Lessons Learned

Hodge, Simon ; Schweiger, Oliver ; Klein, Alexandra Maria ; Potts, Simon G. ; Costa, Cecilia ; Albrecht, Matthias ; de Miranda, Joachim R. ; Mand, Marika ; De la Rúa, Pilar and Rundlöf, Maj LU orcid , et al. (2022) In Sustainability (Switzerland) 14(17).
Abstract

To provide a complete portrayal of the multiple factors negatively impacting insects in agricultural landscapes it is necessary to assess the concurrent incidence, magnitude, and interactions among multiple stressors over substantial biogeographical scales. Trans-national ecological field investigations with wide-ranging stakeholders typically encounter numerous challenges during the design planning stages, not least that the scientific soundness of a spatially replicated study design must account for the substantial geographic and climatic variation among distant sites. ‘PoshBee’ (Pan-European assessment, monitoring, and mitigation of Stressors on the Health of Bees) is a multi-partner transdisciplinary agroecological project... (More)

To provide a complete portrayal of the multiple factors negatively impacting insects in agricultural landscapes it is necessary to assess the concurrent incidence, magnitude, and interactions among multiple stressors over substantial biogeographical scales. Trans-national ecological field investigations with wide-ranging stakeholders typically encounter numerous challenges during the design planning stages, not least that the scientific soundness of a spatially replicated study design must account for the substantial geographic and climatic variation among distant sites. ‘PoshBee’ (Pan-European assessment, monitoring, and mitigation of Stressors on the Health of Bees) is a multi-partner transdisciplinary agroecological project established to investigate the suite of stressors typically encountered by pollinating insects in European agricultural landscapes. To do this, PoshBee established a network of 128 study sites across eight European countries and collected over 50 measurements and samples relating to the nutritional, toxicological, pathogenic, and landscape components of the bees’ environment. This paper describes the development process, rationale, and end-result of each aspect of the of the PoshBee field investigation. We describe the main issues and challenges encountered during the design stages and highlight a number of actions or processes that may benefit other multi-partner research consortia planning similar large-scale studies. It was soon identified that in a multi-component study design process, the development of interaction and communication networks involving all collaborators and stakeholders requires considerable time and resources. It was also necessary at each planning stage to be mindful of the needs and objectives of all stakeholders and partners, and further challenges inevitably arose when practical limitations, such as time restrictions and labour constraints, were superimposed upon prototype study designs. To promote clarity for all stakeholders, for each sub-component of the study, there should be a clear record of the rationale and reasoning that outlines how the final design transpired, what compromises were made, and how the requirements of different stakeholders were accomplished. Ultimately, multi-national agroecological field studies such as PoshBee benefit greatly from the involvement of diverse stakeholders and partners, ranging from field ecologists, project managers, policy legislators, mathematical modelers, and farmer organisations. While the execution of the study highlighted the advantages and benefits of large-scale transdisciplinary projects, the long planning period emphasized the need to formally describe a design framework that could facilitate the design process of future multi-partner collaborations.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
bee pathogens, bees, insect declines, landscape ecology, pan-European, pesticides, pollinators
in
Sustainability (Switzerland)
volume
14
issue
17
article number
10549
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • scopus:85138294148
ISSN
2071-1050
DOI
10.3390/su141710549
project
Exposure and Effects of Chemical Mixtures on Bees (MixToxBee) - Supporting Pesticide Monitoring and Bee Risk Assessment
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
902efef8-6c51-4290-8d20-b635d576ff59
date added to LUP
2022-12-02 14:26:28
date last changed
2024-05-16 11:28:48
@article{902efef8-6c51-4290-8d20-b635d576ff59,
  abstract     = {{<p>To provide a complete portrayal of the multiple factors negatively impacting insects in agricultural landscapes it is necessary to assess the concurrent incidence, magnitude, and interactions among multiple stressors over substantial biogeographical scales. Trans-national ecological field investigations with wide-ranging stakeholders typically encounter numerous challenges during the design planning stages, not least that the scientific soundness of a spatially replicated study design must account for the substantial geographic and climatic variation among distant sites. ‘PoshBee’ (Pan-European assessment, monitoring, and mitigation of Stressors on the Health of Bees) is a multi-partner transdisciplinary agroecological project established to investigate the suite of stressors typically encountered by pollinating insects in European agricultural landscapes. To do this, PoshBee established a network of 128 study sites across eight European countries and collected over 50 measurements and samples relating to the nutritional, toxicological, pathogenic, and landscape components of the bees’ environment. This paper describes the development process, rationale, and end-result of each aspect of the of the PoshBee field investigation. We describe the main issues and challenges encountered during the design stages and highlight a number of actions or processes that may benefit other multi-partner research consortia planning similar large-scale studies. It was soon identified that in a multi-component study design process, the development of interaction and communication networks involving all collaborators and stakeholders requires considerable time and resources. It was also necessary at each planning stage to be mindful of the needs and objectives of all stakeholders and partners, and further challenges inevitably arose when practical limitations, such as time restrictions and labour constraints, were superimposed upon prototype study designs. To promote clarity for all stakeholders, for each sub-component of the study, there should be a clear record of the rationale and reasoning that outlines how the final design transpired, what compromises were made, and how the requirements of different stakeholders were accomplished. Ultimately, multi-national agroecological field studies such as PoshBee benefit greatly from the involvement of diverse stakeholders and partners, ranging from field ecologists, project managers, policy legislators, mathematical modelers, and farmer organisations. While the execution of the study highlighted the advantages and benefits of large-scale transdisciplinary projects, the long planning period emphasized the need to formally describe a design framework that could facilitate the design process of future multi-partner collaborations.</p>}},
  author       = {{Hodge, Simon and Schweiger, Oliver and Klein, Alexandra Maria and Potts, Simon G. and Costa, Cecilia and Albrecht, Matthias and de Miranda, Joachim R. and Mand, Marika and De la Rúa, Pilar and Rundlöf, Maj and Attridge, Eleanor and Dean, Robin and Bulet, Philippe and Michez, Denis and Paxton, Robert J. and Babin, Aurélie and Cougoule, Nicolas and Laurent, Marion and Martel, Anne Claire and Paris, Laurianne and Rivière, Marie Pierre and Dubois, Eric and Chauzat, Marie Pierre and Arafah, Karim and Askri, Dalel and Voisin, Sebastien N. and Kiljanek, Tomasz and Bottero, Irene and Dominik, Christophe and Tamburini, Giovanni and Pereira-Peixoto, Maria Helena and Wintermantel, Dimitry and Breeze, Tom D. and Cini, Elena and Senapathi, Deepa and Di Prisco, Gennaro and Medrzycki, Piotr and Hagenbucher, Steffen and Knauer, Anina and Schwarz, Janine M. and Raimets, Risto and Martínez-López, Vicente and Ivarsson, Kjell and Hartfield, Chris and Hunter, Pamela and Brown, Mark J.F. and Stout, Jane C.}},
  issn         = {{2071-1050}},
  keywords     = {{bee pathogens; bees; insect declines; landscape ecology; pan-European; pesticides; pollinators}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  number       = {{17}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Sustainability (Switzerland)}},
  title        = {{Design and Planning of a Transdisciplinary Investigation into Farmland Pollinators : Rationale, Co-Design, and Lessons Learned}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su141710549}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/su141710549}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}