News
		CÆR NEWS May 2012: Prof Simon G. Potts spoke at the public launch of the Friends of the Earth "Bee Cause" campaign which put forward policy recommendations to MP's, members of the House of Lords, NGO heads, academics and business leaders. The campaign is based on a University of Reading report "Decline of England’s Bees: Policy review and Recommendations " authored by Tom Breeze, Stuart Roberts and Simon Potts. The full report can be downloaded Here. Watch a video of the event Here April 2012: Duncan Costan, Jennifer Wickens and Victoria Wickens engage the public at the "Wild about Mid-Sussex" event with a display stand, posters and games. March 2012: Prof Simon G. Potts and the VC, Sir David Bell, opened a "Bee Hotel" on the wall of the University's Agriculture building. For more information see the Press Release and Video. February 2012: Prof Simon G. Potts will be appearing in a BBC documentary "Bees, Butterflies and Blooms" with Sarah Ravens on Wednesday 8th February at 8pm on BBC2. The programme will look at the contribution of British pollinators to food security, healthy diets, consumer choice and the maintenance of flower diversity. June 2011: Prof Simon G. Potts was invited to give a plenary talk at the European Parliament meeting on Pollination and Agriculture. June 2011: PhD student Tom Breeze and colleagues have spoken to NERC about their new research which casts doubt on the long held belief that honeybees provide most of the UK's pollination services. For more information see the Planet Earth website. June 2011: PhD student Robin Blake recorded a podcast with NERC explaining how farmers can help pollinating insects by limiting grass growth in buffer strips and encouraging wildflowers to grow. For more information see the Planet Earth website. June 2011: Dr Deepa Senapathi discussed the results of a study which has shown that wetter springs in Mauritius are making the endemic Mauritius kestrels breed later in the season than they did 30 years ago showing that climate change impacts tropical populations through mechanisms different to that in temperate regions. For more information see the Planet Earth website. June 2011: Prof Simon G. Potts and Prof Ken Norris are co-authors of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment. For more information see UK NEA May 2011: PhD student Emily Joachim wrote an article for the BBC Nature website discussing her PhD project to investigate little owl breeding behaviour. For more information see the BBC Nature website. March 2011: Dr Simon G. Potts and colleagues have been awarded the Eva Crane Memorial Award for “the best, most innovative and scientifically exciting, article” published in the Journal of Apicultural Research as judged by the international panel of Editors. See Potts S.G., Roberts S.P.M., Dean R., Marris G., Brown M., Jones R. & Settele J. (2010) Declines of managed honeybees and beekeepers in Europe. Journal of Apicultural Research 49: 15-22. October 2010: Fast-Breaking Paper selected by ScienceWatch.com (Thomson Reuters) from the field of Plant & Animal Science: "Declines of managed honey bees and beekeepers in Europe" (J. Apicult. Res. 49: 15-22, 2010). Commentary by Dr Simon G. Potts. July 2010: Dr Simon G. Potts and colleagues from CAER have been filming with BBC Panorama team for a documentary on 'Biodiversity and Food Security' in the UK. Joining him were Tom Breeze, Deepa Senapathi, Penny Fletcher, Sara Ball, Robin Blake and Geetha Nayak. The programme is scheduled for 30 August 2010. June 2010: Dr Simon G. Potts started filming with the BBC for a major new documentary ‘Operation Pollination’ which will look at the contribution of British pollinators to food security, healthy diets, consumer choice and the maintenance of flower diversity. The programme is scheduled to show on prime time in early 2012. May 2010: The BBC visited CAER to interview Stuart Roberts as part of the Bee Part Of It campaign to highlight the plight of bees and encourage people to do more to protect them. May 2010: Dr Simon G. Potts spoke on BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today Programme about the decline of honeybees in Europe. Click here for details. March 2010: PhD student Robin Blake presented at the Butterfly Conservation International Symposium, held at the University of Reading, and was given the opportunity to meet Sir David Attenborough. Click here for details. RECENT RESEARCH GRANTS April 2012: Prof Simon G. Potts and a team at Reading University have been awarded £386,000 by the European Union for a project ",LInking farmland Biodiversity to Ecosystem seRvices for effective eco-functional intensification (LIBERATION)". May 2011: IUCN award Stuart Roberts £85,000 to help develop a European Red List for bees as part of the STEP project. July 2010: Dr Simon G. Potts and a team at Reading University have been awarded £39k by Living With Environmental Change Ecosystem Services For Poverty Alleviation programme to support development of two full proposals: “Sustainable delivery of pollination services to strengthen rural livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa” and “Managing ecosystem services to reduce poverty and vulnerability in East African coffee landscapes”. The project are in collaboration with Leeds University and BTO. June 2010: Dr Simon G. Potts won three new projects worth £1.1M as part of the Living With Environmental Change Insect Pollinator Initiative. The three projects are: (i) ‘Sustainable pollination services for UK crops’, (ii) ‘Linking agriculture and land use change to pollinator populations’ and (iii) ‘Urban pollinators: ecology and conservation’. February 2010: Europe’s largest research project on pollinators and pollination services started. The STEP project (Status and Trends of European Pollinators) has 24 partner organisations from 21 countries and will run for 5 years with a budget of €3.5M. The project is coordinated by Dr Simon G. Potts.