Swedish road services work with promoting pollinators

1. TMALL0146Presentationwidescreenengelskv1.0
Pollinators and
infrastructure

2. 2
Infrastructure environments has potential for
pollinators
• In Sweden road verges amounts more than a third of the total extent
of meadows and pastures in Sweden
• Road verges are increasing at the same time as grazed habitats are
decreasing
• From a socio-economic perspective road verges are an unutilized
environment

3. 3
Infrastructure, an uncertain environment for
pollinators
• Mortality factors can mitigate the habitat qualities
• We must make sure that we don´t create an ecological trap.
• Several parameters are interacting e.g. management and design vs.
mortality factors

4. 4
Biodiversity and Conservation 26(4):843-864 · March 2017 with 163 Reads DOI: 10.1007/s10531-016-1275-7
Road verges can be a important habitat for wild
bees in a cultural landscape

5. 5
Protected areas do not mitigate biodiversity declines: A case study
on butterflies
Diversity and Distributions, Volume: 25, Issue: 2, Pages: 217-224, First published: 16 November 2018, DOI: (10.1111/ddi.12854)
Protected areas are not sufficient in the long
perspective

6. 6
Protected areas do not mitigate biodiversity declines: A case study on butterflies
Diversity and Distributions, Volume: 25, Issue: 2, Pages: 217-224, First published: 16 November 2018, DOI: (10.1111/ddi.12854)
Protected areas are not sufficient in the long
perspective

7. 7
Highways are shown to be complete barriers for
small insects
• Conflicting values
- Barrier effects
- Mortality
- Linear habitat
Andersson et al. / Nature Conservation 18: 47–59 (2017)

8. 8
Mortality increases with habitat quality
• Conflicting values
- Barrier effects
- Mortality
- Linear habitat
Keilsohn et. al. / Ecology Letters 14:1062-1072

9. 9
Wild bees are favoured in managed road verges
• Conflicting values
- Barrier effects
- Mortality
- Linear habitat
Jennifer L. Hopwood Biological Conservation Volume 141, Issue 10, 2008
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2008.07.026

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Mortality and disturbance:
• Collisions
- annual average daily traffic
- traffic speed
• Traffic noise and disturbance
• Traffic related harmful chemical substances

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Linear habitat:
• Management
• Design of the road side
– Habitat size
– Distance to traffic
– Type of soil and slope degree
• Reflecting landscape history (seed bank)
• Road verge quality in a monoculture landscape

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Species rich road verges
• Separate management
and surveillance

13. 13
Distribution of
managed road verges
for biodiversity in south
of Sweden today.

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Road verges should be a
combined solution between
geotechnical conditions,
safety and ecological
perspectives.

15. 15
Species rich railway yards
• Separate management
and surveillance

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We need science based socio
economic arguments for
pollinators along infrastructure.

17. 17
Ongoing Research
• 2 phd students in a network
with researchers from Lund
University, SLU Uppsala and
Swedish Transport
Administration.