U.K. university researchers are calling for the protection of rare bees and insects to help secure future crop pollination and food security by building up a 'reserve squad' of species. 

Researchers at the University of Reading say that while most crops are pollinated by only a small number of bee species, conservation efforts should be aimed at a wider number of species.

These efforts should include even those that currently contribute very little to crop pollination as they may be needed in the future to maintain biodiversity and ensure food security, the researchers say.

By improving bee diversity in Britain, farmers and consumers would have an 'insurance policy' against future ecological shocks such as climate change, say the scientists.

Director of the Centre for Agri-Environmental Research (CAER) at the University of Reading, Professor Simon Potts is one of the report’s authors.

"The few new species that currently pollinate our crops are unlikely to be the same types we will need in the future," he says in a release.

"It is critical to protect a wide range of bees and other insects now so that, as Britain’s climate, environment and crop varieties change, we can call on the pollinating species which are best suited to the task. We can’t just rely on our current starting line-up of pollinators.

"We need a large and diverse group of species on the substitutes’ bench, ready to join the game as soon as they are needed, if we are to ensure food production remains stable."

The value of pollination

The bee protection call comes as the new research, published in the journal Natural Communications, shows some of the most endangered insect pollinators are considered virtually valueless by simple economic measures of the natural environment, which only consider present day agricultural and environmental needs.

The study showed the value of wild bee pollination is estimated at more than US$3,000 per hectare, but most of the work is carried out by just a handful of common species, such as types of bumblebees and solitary bees.

According to the research, only 2% of potential bee species constituted 80% of crop flower visitors observed in the study vital for the production of U.K. crops including beans, apples, strawberries and oilseed rape.

Wild bee value is estimated at around £1 billion (US$1.5 billion) a year in the U.K. alone.

"Human history is full of examples of food crises caused by an over-reliance on a single crops or a dwindling number of species.

"In the insect world, we have already seen how the massive decline in honeybees in Britain has led to a reliance on wild bees to do much of the pollination. At one time, honeybees were enough to pollinate most of Britain’s crops. Now, there are only enough to pollinate around a quarter of them.

"If we didn’t have other species of bees to turn to, we would already be facing a food security catastrophe."

Honeybee colonies have seriously declined in the U.K. from 250,000 in the 1950s to fewer than 100,000 today.

Many British apple crops, for example, were previously pollinated by honeybees but these days are almost exclusively pollinated by wild bees.

"Putting a cash value on ecosystem services is helpful to highlight to politicians and farmers just how important nature is to the bottom line. But thinking purely about today’s profits is pointless if it comes at the expense of the future sustainability of our countryside and our food supply."

Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons

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