​Pollinators: First global risk index for species declines and effects on humanity

Disappearing habitats and use of pesticides are driving the loss of pollinator species around the world, posing
a threat to "ecosystem services" that provide food and wellbeing to many millions -- particularly in the Global
South -- as well as billions of dollars in crop productivity.

This is according to an international panel of experts, led by the University of Cambridge, who used available evidence to create the first planetary risk index of the causes and effects of dramatic pollinator declines in six global regions.

​Read More Here  
Read the Journal Paper 
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Industrial Agriculture Threatens Native Pollinators and Biodiversity, but Agroecology Holds Solutions 

“[Agroecology] aims to protect pollinators not only by its effects in agroecosystems, but also by reducing poverty and improving people’s livelihoods, by both recovering local knowledges and developing local research technologies as well as implementing territorial planning and [agroecological] policies considering the needs of local communities”

• Industrial agriculture has been recognized among the main threats to native insect pollinators, and has been linked to a decline in pollinator populations,  richness, and visitation.
• Conversely, agroecology, the term applied to the revitalisation, practice, and dispersal of traditional ecological knowledge and its applications in agriculture, strives to create resilient, diversified agricultural systems with low external inputs and increased self-reliance.
• Authors used a case study from Chile to present strategies for sustainable food production and pollinator conservation in biodiversity hotspots (highly endemic biogeographic regions threatened by human activity), which often overlap with prime agricultural zones.
• The authors suggest four pillars to help guide changes in food production and protect pollinators. These include land sharing, restoration, and preservation; internal inputs; localized research and technology; and territorial planning and agroecological policies.
• Authors also suggest specific action items to build knowledge and promote agroecology, including: performing localized studies to understand biodiversity and describe species; prioritizing and support of small-scale, agroecological farms; developing local sustainability standards for agricultural businesses; forming international legal frameworks which recognize and protect local diversity; and a general shift towards truly sustainable, local, sovereign, community-based, ecosystem-centric food production. 

To read the full article by Patricia A. Henríquez-Piskulich and colleagues here.  
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From "This Month in Conservation Science", August 2021, Virginia Working Landscapes (VWL) 

A new study aims to clarify the status of the non-native European House Sparrow, using 21 years of citizen science data.

The European House Sparrow has a story to tell about survival in the modern world. In parts of its native range in Europe, House Sparrow numbers are down by nearly 60%.Their fate in the U.S. and Canada is less well known. A new study by Cornell Lab of Ornithology scientists aims to clarify the status of this non-native species, using 21 years of citizen science data from the Cornell Lab's Project FeederWatch.

Read the full story here.

​Human-made stuff now outweighs living stuff - Click Here

​Read this NYT opinion -  The Silence of Bugs