«pollinAtors eCosystem healTh indicator Of aNtropic pressure»
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About the Project :
About the Project :
A healthy ecosystem is fundamental for life, providing services like clean water, air, and food. However, human activities such as urbanization, agriculture, and pollution are putting these systems under significant pressure.
Pollinators are especially vulnerable to these pressures. They are essential for the reproduction of the vast majority of the world's flowering plants and a huge portion of our agricultural crops. When pollinators suffer, biodiversity declines, and so does the ecosystem's stability and resilience.
When ecosystem health is compromised, pollinator well-being is reduced, diminishing their ability to support ecosystem services.
If we are able to assess the well-being of pollinators, we can evaluate the health of the environment
What We're Doing :
What We're Doing :
ACTIONS project aims to develop new bio-indicators that can measure the health of an ecosystem by assessing the well-being of its pollinators. We will be looking at how different levels of "anthropic pressure" (human impact) affect these crucial species.
To do this, we are combining several cutting-edge techniques:
GIS Environmental Analysis: Using Geographic Information Systems to map and analyze environmental data in our study areas.
Molecular Biomarkers: Developing a low-cost, non-invasive method using telomere length (TL) in pollinators as an indicator of stress.
Pollinator Function Evaluation: Conducting field and lab experiments to assess how environmental stressors impact pollinator health and their ability to provide ecosystem services.
Our Goals :
Our Goals :
Our ultimate objective is to create an
Ecosystem Health Index (EHI). This index will provide a clear and transferable way to assess the health of an environment based on the link between human pressure and the well-being of its pollinators.
Project structure :
Project structure :
Expected Outputs, Outcomes, and Impacts :
Expected Outputs, Outcomes, and Impacts :
WP1 -Management, coordination, and dissemination: Enhanced coordination and management, leading to improved efficiency and adherence to administrative/financial requirements.
WP2 - Study areas environmental characterization and anthropic pressures definition: Defined procedure for evaluating anthropic pressure, transferable to other national and international environmental contexts
WP3 - Pollinators ecosystem services evaluation: Improved understanding the impact of anthropic activity on honey bees and wild pollinators, strengthening capacity to address them. This will feed into decision-making tools for honey bee colony deployment, promoting practices that reduce potential impacts of beekeeping on ecosystem services, and supporting biodiversity by increasing resilience genes
WP4 - Genomic biomarker set up on pollinators' well-being: Enhanced knowledge in using genomic biomarkers on pollinators to evaluate ecosystem health. Provides a better understanding of environmental influences on pollinator health, serving as a foundational reference for future research.
WP5 - Data integration and Environmental Health Index (EHI) definition: Definition of a new ecosystem health assessment index (EHI) based on relationships between anthropogenic pressure and pollinator well-being. This new tool will evaluate the effect of ecosystem health on primary production in relation to anthropic pressure effects on pollinator-provided ecosystem services
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