Landscape impacts on pollinator communities in temperate systems: evidence and knowledge gaps

TLDR

Landscape characteristics influence pollinator communities, with human‑dominated areas reducing diversity but mitigated by nearby semi‑natural habitats and corridors, while heterogeneity and configuration support diversity and climate or chemical inputs further modulate effects, yet most studies focus on bees, leaving non‑bee taxa understudied. The review aims to build an evidence base, identify knowledge gaps, and highlight initiatives to improve pollinator conservation, emphasizing the need for research on management effectiveness and long‑term observations in urban and rural settings. The authors propose leveraging existing policies and monitoring schemes to collect data that will fill knowledge gaps and clarify landscape‑pollinator relationships. The synthesis will inform mitigation and adaptation strategies for pollinator conservation. A lay summary of the review is available.

Abstract

Summary This review assesses current knowledge about the interplay between landscape and pollinator communities. Our primary aim is to provide an evidence base, identify key gaps in knowledge and highlight initiatives that will help develop and improve strategies for pollinator conservation. Human‐dominated landscapes (such as arable land and urban environments) can have detrimental impacts on pollinator communities but these negative effects can be ameliorated by proximity to semi‐natural habitat and habitat corridors. There is also evidence to suggest that increased landscape heterogeneity and landscape configuration can play an important role in the maintenance of diverse pollinator communities. Landscape characteristics have direct impacts on pollinator communities, but can also influence abundance and richness through interaction with other drivers such as changing climate or increased chemical inputs in land management. The majority of existing literature focuses on specific hymenopteran groups, but there is a lack of information on the impact of landscape changes on non‐bee taxa. Research is also needed on the effectiveness of management interventions for pollinators and multiple year observations are required for both urban and rural initiatives. Current policies and monitoring schemes could contribute data that will plug gaps in knowledge, thus enabling greater understanding of relationships between landscapes and pollinator populations. This would in turn help design mitigation and adaptation strategies for pollinator conservation. A lay summary is available for this article.