Critical habitat thresholds for effective pollinator conservation in agricultural landscapes
Bishop, G.A. ; Smith, H.G. LU
; Persson, A.S.
LU
; Rundlöf, M.
LU
and Fijen, T.P.M.
(2025)
In Science
389(6767).
p.1314-1319
- Abstract
- Biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes is declining, but evidence-based conservation targets to guide international policies for such landscapes are lacking. We present a framework for informing habitat conservation policies based on the enhancement of habitat quantity and quality and define thresholds of habitat quantity at which it becomes effective to also prioritize habitat quality. We applied this framework to insect pollinators, an important part of agroecosystem biodiversity, by synthesizing 59 studies from 19 countries. Given low habitat quality, hoverflies had the lowest threshold at 6% semi-natural habitat cover, followed by solitary bees (16%), bumble bees (18%), and butterflies (37%). These figures represent minimum habitat... (More)
- Biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes is declining, but evidence-based conservation targets to guide international policies for such landscapes are lacking. We present a framework for informing habitat conservation policies based on the enhancement of habitat quantity and quality and define thresholds of habitat quantity at which it becomes effective to also prioritize habitat quality. We applied this framework to insect pollinators, an important part of agroecosystem biodiversity, by synthesizing 59 studies from 19 countries. Given low habitat quality, hoverflies had the lowest threshold at 6% semi-natural habitat cover, followed by solitary bees (16%), bumble bees (18%), and butterflies (37%). These figures represent minimum habitat thresholds in agricultural landscapes, but when habitat quantity is restricted, marked increases in quality are required to reach similar outcomes. Copyright © 2025 the authors, some rights reserved. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/f4bb01f2-ce65-45a2-b2dd-9cea2525b339
- author
- Bishop, G.A.
; Smith, H.G.
LU
; Persson, A.S.
LU
; Rundlöf, M.
LU
and Fijen, T.P.M.
- author collaboration
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Agriculture, Animals, Bees, Biodiversity, Butterflies, Conservation of Natural Resources, Ecosystem, Pollination, agricultural land, bee, butterfly, habitat conservation, habitat quality, pollinator, prioritization, agroecosystem, animal experiment, Apidae, article, biodiversity, bumblebee, evidence based practice, habitat, human, nonhuman, Syrphidae, agriculture, animal, ecosystem, environmental protection, pollination
- in
- Science
- volume
- 389
- issue
- 6767
- pages
- 6 pages
- publisher
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105016996427
- pmid:40997179
- ISSN
- 0036-8075
- DOI
- 10.1126/science.adr2146
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f4bb01f2-ce65-45a2-b2dd-9cea2525b339
- date added to LUP
- 2026-03-31 14:22:02
- date last changed
- 2026-04-01 03:00:02
@article{f4bb01f2-ce65-45a2-b2dd-9cea2525b339,
abstract = {{Biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes is declining, but evidence-based conservation targets to guide international policies for such landscapes are lacking. We present a framework for informing habitat conservation policies based on the enhancement of habitat quantity and quality and define thresholds of habitat quantity at which it becomes effective to also prioritize habitat quality. We applied this framework to insect pollinators, an important part of agroecosystem biodiversity, by synthesizing 59 studies from 19 countries. Given low habitat quality, hoverflies had the lowest threshold at 6% semi-natural habitat cover, followed by solitary bees (16%), bumble bees (18%), and butterflies (37%). These figures represent minimum habitat thresholds in agricultural landscapes, but when habitat quantity is restricted, marked increases in quality are required to reach similar outcomes. Copyright © 2025 the authors, some rights reserved.}},
author = {{Bishop, G.A. and Smith, H.G. and Persson, A.S. and Rundlöf, M. and Fijen, T.P.M.}},
issn = {{0036-8075}},
keywords = {{Agriculture; Animals; Bees; Biodiversity; Butterflies; Conservation of Natural Resources; Ecosystem; Pollination; agricultural land; bee; butterfly; habitat conservation; habitat quality; pollinator; prioritization; agroecosystem; animal experiment; Apidae; article; biodiversity; bumblebee; evidence based practice; habitat; human; nonhuman; Syrphidae; agriculture; animal; ecosystem; environmental protection; pollination}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{6767}},
pages = {{1314--1319}},
publisher = {{American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)}},
series = {{Science}},
title = {{Critical habitat thresholds for effective pollinator conservation in agricultural landscapes}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.adr2146}},
doi = {{10.1126/science.adr2146}},
volume = {{389}},
year = {{2025}},
}