SPRING: Strengthening pollinator recovery through indicators and monitoring

The general objective of the project is to strengthen taxonomic capacity in EU Member States with regard to pollinating insects, and support preparation for the implementation of the EU Pollinator Monitoring Scheme.

The EU Pollinator Monitoring Scheme was proposed by an expert group (Potts et al. 2020) and comprises:

● Minimum Viable Scheme (‘the MVS’) – part of the Core Scheme
○ Pillar 1: Wild bees, butterflies and hoverflies (transect module)
○ Pillar 2: Wild bees and hoverflies (pan traps module)

● Complementary modules – part of the Core Scheme
○ Pillar 3: Rare & threatened species module
○ Pillar 4: Moths module (light traps)

● Additional modules
○ Pillar 5: Pollination services
○ Pillar 6: Flower visitors
○ Pillar 7: Wider insect biodiversity module (malaise traps)

This project is to devise and execute a series of tasks in line with the EU-PoMS proposal and as a major contribution to the EU initiative to address the decline in pollinating insects1 and EU Biodiversity Strategy for 20302.

The proposal links to complementary initiatives within the EU Pollinators Initiative, specifically:

  • Science and Technology for pollinating Insects (STING)
  • Taxonomic tools for an EU Pollinator Monitoring Scheme
  • Horizon Europe research projects, including under the biodiversity partnership
  • Assessment of taxonomic expertise in Europe – “European Red List” of Taxonomists
  • European Red List of Bees (pending revision), Butterflies (pending revision), Hoverflies (under development) and Moths (under development)

Our consortium for this proposal is integrated within all these activities, with experts contributing across all these projects. We will work with the Commission to co-operate and integrate work across projects, to maximise the potential to add value for mutual benefit and to collectively deliver the aspirations of the EU Pollinator Initiative.