Skip to main content

University of Reading Cookie Policy

We use cookies on reading.ac.uk to improve your experience. Find out more about our cookie policy. By continuing to use our site you accept these terms, and are happy for us to use cookies to improve your browsing experience.

Continue using the University of Reading website

  • Schools and departments
  • Henley Business School
  • University of Reading Malaysia
  • Applicants
  • Student
  • Staff
  • Alumni
Show/Hide navigation
University of Reading University of Reading
Mobile search categories
  • Study and life
  • Research
  • About us
  • View courses
  • Home
  • Study and life
    • Clearing 2023
    • Study
    • Student life
    • Accommodation
    • Schools and departments
    • Open Days and visiting
    • International students
  • Research
    • Themes
    • Impact
    • Innovation and partnerships
    • Research environment
    • Get involved
    • Sustainable development
    • Environment
    • Research integrity
    • Sexual violence in peacekeeping
    • Working globally
    • Health
    • Heritage & Creativity
    • Prosperity & Resilience
  • About us
    • Chat to our ambassadors
    • Accessibility – University of Reading
    • Centre College - University of Reading partnership
    • Copyright – University of Reading
    • MGIMO
    • Privacy – the University of Reading
    • Queen's Anniversary Prizes - University of Reading
    • rivedeleted
    • Teaching and Learning stories
    • #UoRWay: read more extraordinary stories and get involved
    • Campus commerce services
    • Our global community
    • Sports Hall of Fame
    • Business
    • Local community
    • Visit us
    • Value for Money
    • Strategy
    • 2026: TRANSFORM
    • 90th anniversary
    • Governance
    • A photographic history of the University of Reading
    • Income and expenditure
    • NUIST Reading Academy
    • Important information
    • Teaching and learning
    • Terms of use
    • University of Reading timeline
    • Chat to our students
    • Chat to our students
    • Contact us
  • Applicants
  • Student
  • Staff
  • Alumni
  • Schools and departments
  • Henley Business School
  • University of Reading Malaysia
  • View courses
  • Themes
    • Environment
    • Agriculture, Food & Health
    • Heritage & Creativity
    • Prosperity & Resilience
  • Impact
    • Research highlights
    • REF 2021
    • Impact Awards
    • Research Films
  • Innovation and partnerships
  • Research environment
    • Research strategy
    • Funding
    • Support for researchers
    • Facilities
    • Public engagement with research
    • Open Research
    • Animal Research
    • Research integrity
    • Promote your research
  • Get involved

Saving Britain’s Pollinators

Understanding the decline of pollinating insects 


Pollinators are in decline worldwide and research is vital to understand which species suffer most, what causes the declines and how this will impact nature and society.

Bee on a flowerStudents holding seed packets

Saving Britain’s pollinators

For a decade, Professor Simon Potts and his colleagues in the Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, at the University of Reading, have been at the forefront of research into the causes of declines in bees and other pollinating insects. In 2017-18 his research broke through into mainstream national and global policymaking, playing a key role in the UK government’s new National Pollinator Strategy for England and leading the way through a nationwide campaign to build public action and support for pollinators. 

Pollinators are in decline worldwide and research is vital to understand which species suffer most, what causes the declines, and how this will impact nature and society. With 75% of the world’s food crops being at least partially reliant on animal pollination, every part of human society is vulnerable to loss of key species. 

Giving government advice

Simon Potts is an ecologist who has led major studies and policy reviews into the impacts of pollinator declines. In 2016 he co-chaired the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) that published a UN report highlighting the scale of the problem facing the world’s pollinators and suggesting policies to reverse declines. The evidence has informed IPBES’ 2019 report on global habitat and species loss. His own scientific work has not only quantified the risks to different species of bees, but in 2018 demonstrated the annual value of pollinators to UK farmers was approximately £1 billion.

In 2017 he was appointed to the UK government’s National Pollinator Strategy scientific advisory group. This has helped guide UK policies on banning certain pesticides and contributed to emerging policies designed to protect and boost species around the UK. Professor Potts has shown how this can be done, quantifying how flower rich field margins and organic farming can protect biodiversity. The research helps farmers, conservation charities and the Government implement changes that make a difference.

More than just a policy problem

However, new policies alone will not save Britain’s pollinators. In an increasingly urbanised and intensively managed landscape, bees and other insects need everyone’s help to thrive. In 2017-18 Professor Potts partnered with key organisations including the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, the Royal Horticultural Society and Defra to undertake a series of campaigns and events to raise public awareness.

Bees’ Needs Week in July 2018 was a high point, with Professor Potts and his team helping to takeover London’s Carnaby Street (renamed ‘Carnabee Street’), winning them Defra’s Bees Needs Champion award. In a pop-up exhibition space, the team showed bumble bees at work in a ‘Bumblearium’ and gave children and adults the chance to shop in a Pollinator Supermarket, showing shoppers just how many of their shopping basket depends on pollinators. 

Visitors, including Environment Minister, Lord Gardiner and business leaders pledged to support bees’ needs by ditching garden chemicals, planting wildflowers, and providing nesting sites for pollinators, receiving free wild-seed packs to get them started. 

Professor Potts has succeeded in bringing key agencies together to forge stronger alliances that will, as Britain exits the EU, be ever more important for building a sustainable future.

 

Acknowledgements and credits:

This work is the result of several projects sponsored by the European the Commission under the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, the Natural Environment Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs.

Read more
Professor Simon Potts holding a bee hotel

Key facts

  • 75% of the world’s food crops are reliant on animal pollination
  • Annual value of pollinators to UK farmers is approximately £1 billion
  • This research played a key role in the new National Pollinator Strategy for England

The natural world is wonderful and beautiful, but it’s also a crucial resource for human prosperity. With some vital pollinators seeing dramatic declines, and the knock-on effects this has for many food crops, we must take action. It’s important to save our pollinators to preserve nature and provide secure resources for future generations. Raising awareness and making fundamental changes is key to their survival.

Professor Simon Potts

Further reading

Baldock, K. C. R., Goddard, M. A., Hicks, D. M., Kunin, W. E., Mitschunas, N., Morse, H., Osgathorpe, L. M., Potts, S. G., Robertson, K. M., Scott, A. V., Staniczenko, P. P. A., Stone, G. N., Vaughan, I. P. and Memmott, J. (2019) A systems approach reveals urban pollinator hotspots and conservation opportunities Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3. pp. 363-373. ISSN 2397-334X doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0769-y

Potts S.G., Imperatriz-Fonseca V., Ngo H.T., Aizen M.A., Biesmeijer J.C., Breeze T.D., Dicks L.V., Garibaldi L.A., Hill R., Settele J., Vanbergen A.J. (2016) Safeguarding pollinators and their values to human well-being Nature 540: 220-229.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20588

Stanley D.A., Garratt M.P.D., Wickens J.B., Wickens V.J., Potts S.G., Raine N.E. (2015) Neonicotinoid pesticide exposure impairs crop pollination services delivered by bumblebees Nature 528: 548-550, doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature16167

 
mask
CHOOSE A SUBJECT
2023/24
2024/25
Undergraduates
Postgraduates
Undergraduates
Postgraduates

Subjects A-B

  • Accounting
  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Animal Science
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Architectural Engineering
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Bioveterinary Sciences
  • Building and Surveying
  • Business and Management

Subjects C-E

  • Chemistry
  • Classics and Classical Studies
  • Climate Science
  • Computer Science
  • Construction Management
  • Consumer Behaviour and Marketing
  • Creative Writing
  • Criminology
  • Drama
  • Ecology
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environment

Subjects F-G

  • Film & Television
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Foundation programmes
  • French
  • Geography
  • German
  • Graphic Communication and Design

Subjects H-M

  • Healthcare
  • History
  • International Development
  • International Foundation Programme (IFP)
  • International Relations
  • Italian
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Marketing
  • Mathematics
  • Medical Sciences
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Museum Studies

Subjects N-T

  • Nutrition
  • Pharmacology
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate Studies
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Psychology
  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Spanish
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Surveying and Construction
  • Teaching
  • Theatre & Performance

Subjects U-Z

  • Wildlife Conservation
  • Zoology

Subjects A-C

  • Accounting
  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Animal Sciences
  • Archaeology
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Business (Post-Experience)
  • Business and Management (Pre-Experience)
  • Chemistry
  • Classics and Ancient History
  • Climate Science
  • Computer Science
  • Construction Management and Engineering
  • Consumer Behaviour
  • Creative Enterprise
  • Creative Writing

Subjects D-G

  • Data Science
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Energy and Environmental Engineering
  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Film, Theatre and Television
  • Finance
  • Food and Nutritional Sciences
  • Geography and Environmental Science
  • Graphic Design

Subjects H-P

  • Healthcare
  • History
  • Information Management and Digital Business
  • Information Technology
  • International Development and Applied Economics
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Microbiology
  • Nutrition
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Project Management
  • Psychology
  • Public Policy

Subjects Q-Z

  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Social Policy
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Strategic Studies
  • Teacher training
  • Theatre
  • Typography and Graphic Communication
  • War and Peace Studies
  • Zoology

Subjects A-B

  • Accounting
  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Architectural Engineering
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Bioveterinary Sciences
  • Building and Surveying
  • Business and Management

Subjects C-E

  • Chemistry
  • Classics and Classical Studies
  • Climate Science
  • Computer Science
  • Construction Management
  • Consumer Behaviour and Marketing
  • Creative Writing
  • Criminology
  • Drama
  • Ecology
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environment

Subjects F-G

  • Film & Television
  • Finance
  • Food
  • Foundation programmes
  • French
  • Geography
  • German
  • Graphic Communication and Design

Subjects H-M

  • Healthcare
  • History
  • International Development
  • International Foundation Programme (IFP)
  • International Relations
  • Italian
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Marketing
  • Mathematics
  • Medical Sciences
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Museum Studies

Subjects N-T

  • Nutrition
  • Pharmacology
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate Studies
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Psychology
  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Spanish
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Surveying and Construction
  • Teaching
  • Theatre & Performance

Subjects U-Z

  • Wildlife Conservation
  • Zoology

Subjects A-C

  • Accounting
  • Agriculture
  • Ancient History
  • Animal Sciences
  • Archaeology
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Biological Sciences
  • Biomedical Sciences
  • Business (Post-Experience)
  • Business and Management (Pre-Experience)
  • Chemistry
  • Classics and Ancient History
  • Climate Science
  • Computer Science
  • Construction Management and Engineering
  • Consumer Behaviour
  • Creative Enterprise
  • Creative Writing

Subjects D-G

  • Data Science
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Energy and Environmental Engineering
  • Engineering
  • English Language and Applied Linguistics
  • English Literature
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Film, Theatre and Television
  • Finance
  • Food and Nutritional Sciences
  • Geography and Environmental Science
  • Graphic Design

Subjects H-P

  • Healthcare
  • History
  • Information Management and Digital Business
  • Information Technology
  • International Development and Applied Economics
  • Languages and Cultures
  • Law
  • Linguistics
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Meteorology and Climate
  • Microbiology
  • Nutrition
  • Pharmacy
  • Philosophy
  • Physician Associate
  • Politics and International Relations
  • Project Management
  • Psychology
  • Public Policy

Subjects Q-Z

  • Real Estate and Planning
  • Social Policy
  • Speech and Language Therapy
  • Strategic Studies
  • Teacher training
  • Theatre
  • Typography and Graphic Communication
  • War and Peace Studies
  • Zoology
  • Charitable Status
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Terms of use
  • Sitemap

© University of Reading