Over the past few decades, research on pollinator ecology has grown substantially, with particular attention to the effectiveness of conservation management actions. While much of this work has focused on pollinator-friendly interventions in agricultural landscapes, studies on urban pollinators have primarily examined how their communities differ from those in agricultural habitats and the adverse effects of urbanisation. Only recently has research begun to address urban interventions aimed at supporting pollinators, but these efforts remain scattered and unsynthesised, limiting their contribution to policy development.
To address this gap, a new Safeguard study led by the HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research investigated the impacts of pollinator-friendly management compared to conventionally managed urban green spaces across Europe. Researchers carried out a re-analytical data synthesis based on 28 primary datasets from 12 European countries with 1051 sampling sites. Published in the journal Ecology Letters, the synthesis examined whether pollinator-promoting interventions have positive effects on vegetation, floral resources, and a broad range of pollinator groups.
Results indicate that urban pollinator-promoting interventions generally benefited plants and pollinators with taxon, intervention, habitat, and spatio-temporal specific differences. Additionally, findings show that bumblebees and butterflies benefited most from the interventions. Some effects were stronger for interventions involving flower sowing, interventions occurring in road verges, and interventions located in Northwestern Europe.
Further collaborative studies could help cities bring people, plants, and pollinators together by creating resilient, multi-functional urban spaces. To reach this ambitious goal, citizens and stakeholders will need to develop locally adapted, collaborative, and research-informed biodiversity initiatives and feedback systems.
Collaborative studies from around the globe can help cities create resilient, multi-functional urban spaces that connect people, plants, and pollinators. Achieving this vision will require citizens and stakeholders to develop locally adapted, research-informed biodiversity initiatives and feedback systems.