It does not take £10m to know that the pollinators among wildlife are dying out since a simple look out in the garden will reveal that hoverflies, honeybees, wasps, butterflies, moths, and bumblebees are disappearing. In fact, since the 1970’s butterfly species have declined by 75% in the UK, honeybees are facing extinction, and three different species of butterflies are extinct.
However, with all of this knowledge, it seems as if the research behind why these species are disappearing has failed to help the matter. For instance, the nine projects that received some of the £10m in funding announced interesting ideas, such as placing radio frequency tags in bee nests, but how much impact will they have?
Other projects include ideas that may help lessen the impact of the varroa mite on honeybees due to viruses that have destroyed the species.
While the ideas are nice, the truth is that most scientists already know why the major pollinators are facing extinction, the problem is that more needs to actually be done about the problem instead of more being done about why the problem exists.
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Claire Carvell, stated that bumblebees are facing a decline globally due to the loss of their natural habitats and flowers that are necessary to their survival.
Thus, instead of spending time researching how far a bumblebee will travel, it may be better to spend time looking for a way to create the appropriate habitats for them now. The simple answer is that gardens need to be created with these pollinators in mind, as well as all other types of wildlife to prevent future extinction of species.
