Biodiversity Net Gain: What Could BNG Mean For Pollinators?

Posted byKeiron Derek BrownPosted inBlog, entoLIVE BlogTags:, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) promises to transform the way that we approach nature conservation in the UK. At the moment the focus of BNG is very much on habitats, with less of an emphasis on species. However, BNG has some important implications for the insect pollinators that service the reproduction of around 75% of our native wild plants. This presentation will discuss some of these implications and suggest how BNG may change in the future to accommodate the requirements of pollinators.

Q&A with Prof Jeff Ollerton

Professor Jeff Ollerton is a consulting ecological scientist and author, with more than 30 years’ of experience studying pollinators and their flowers. He is the author of ‘Pollinators & Pollination: Nature and Society’ (Pelagic 2021) and ‘Birds & Flowers: A 50 Million Year Relationship’ (Pelagic 2024). Jeff is also a visiting Professor at the University of Northampton (UK) and the Kunming Institute of Botany (China).

  1. Is there a comprehensive list of requirements for pollinators in terms of flowers?
    No, because it is so diverse, we need to consider pollinators on a case-by-case basis and there are lots of species that we know relatively little about. Some pollinators can be very generalist in nature, whereas others are much more specialist in their nectar and pollen preferences. The Database of Pollinator Interactions (DoPI) is specific to the UK and is run through the University of Sussex. It is a compilation of all of the information that is available to date on which plants different pollinators interact with. We’re hoping to add more information on habitats and soil types into this database and are actively seeking funding for this currently so watch this space!
    Book on the free Plants For Pollinators entoLIVE to hear about more research in this area.
  2. What is the realistic potential of BNG delivered within urban environments to provide the complex habitat opportunities that pollinators require?
    Very high potential, but it varies depending upon the town or city! We’ve published research showing that bees are thriving within the centre of Northampton with 50-60 different bee species present in the heart of the city, including some rare bees. The diversity within Northampton was higher than some of the nature reserves in the area surrounding the city. Most solitary bees need relatively warm and dry conditions to thrive and these microhabitats can be found in towns and cities. BNG will not provide the solution to reversing insect pollinator declines. Less than 10% of Britain is urbanised and 70% is agricultural, so the key to pollinator conservation in Britain lies in tackling threats within agricultural environments.
  3. Will monitoring of BNG evidence if it is having a positive impact on pollinator populations?
    There is nothing specific within BNG monitoring that targets pollinators. the Pollinator Monitoring Scheme is run by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and this, in theory, will help us detect changes in pollinator populations – though attributing any changes to BNG would be very difficult as you’d need to disentangle BNG from other nature recovery initiatives such as Local Nature Recovery Strategies and Sustainable Farming Initiatives.
  4. What changes would you recommend to make BNG assessments more beneficial for supporting pollinator conservation?
    It would probably be possible to go through all of the condition assessments and find criteria that are important for pollinators. A high priority would be the hedgerows as we need to have something in there about the diversity of the hedgerows and can’t really understand why this wasn’t included. Some grasslands, certainly ancient grasslands, should be regarded as irreplaceable habitat. We should also be considering the positive biodiversity gains we get from some ‘undesirable’ species within grassland habitats, but this may conflict with the advice given via agricultural policy (for example removal of creeping thistle and ragwort).

Literature References

  1. Ollerton (2023) Biodiversity Net Gain: What Are The Opportunities For Insect Pollinator Conservation?: https://jeffollerton.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/bng-and-pollinators-ollerton-october-2023-version-1.pdf
  2. Ollerton, J. (2024) Birds & Flowers: An Intimate 50 Million Year Relationship. Pelagic Publishing, Exeter – https://pelagicpublishing.com/collections/jeff-ollerton/products/birds-and-flowers
  3. Ollerton, J. (2021) Pollinators & Pollination: Nature and Society. Pelagic Publishing, Exeter, UK – https://pelagicpublishing.com/collections/jeff-ollerton
  4. Ollerton et al. (2011) How many flowering plants are pollinated by animals?: https://nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18644.x
  5. Tong et al. (2023) New calculations indicate that 90% of flowering plant species are animal-pollinated: https://academic.oup.com/nsr/article/10/10/nwad219/7241545
  6. Rodger et al. (2021) Widespread vulnerability of flowering plant seed production to pollinator declines: https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.abd3524
  7. Klein et al. (2007) Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2006.3721
  8. Siopa et al. (2024)  Animal-pollinated crops and cultivars—A quantitative assessment of pollinator dependence values and evaluation of methodological approaches: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.14634
  9. Falk (2021) A review of the pollinators associated with decaying wood, old trees and tree wounds in Great Britain: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349319059_A_review_of_the_pollinators_associated_with_decaying_wood_old_trees_and_tree_wounds_in_Great_Britain
  10. Balfour & Ratnieks (2022) The disproportionate value of ‘weeds’ to pollinators and biodiversity: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.14132
  11. Duffus et al. (preprint) Leveraging Biodiversity Net Gain to address invertebrate declines in England: https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/6667/
  12. Duffus et al. (preprint) Metrics based on habitat area and condition are poor proxies for invertebrate biodiversity: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/384774028_Metrics_based_on_habitat_area_and_condition_are_poor_proxies_for_invertebrate_biodiversity

Further Info

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Published by Keiron Derek Brown

A blog about biological recording in the UK from the scheme organiser for the National Earthworm Recording Scheme.

One thought on “Biodiversity Net Gain: What Could BNG Mean For Pollinators?”

  1. Pingback: Biodiversity Net Gain and pollinators: catch up with my talk on YouTube | Prof. Jeff Ollerton – ecological scientist and author

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