Insects contribute to ecosystem services by pollinating crops, but their populations have been declining for years. A new study led by SHOWCASE scientists shows that better managing existing natural habitats, such as hedges, woodlots and extensive grasslands, helps but is insufficient to halt pollinator loss. Pollinators also need more habitat. To achieve this, the EU Biodiversity Strategy aims to bring back high-diversity landscape features in 10% of the agricultural landscape. The current study, based on 59 studies worldwide, shows that these insects need more habitat, namely between 16 and 37% habitat coverage in farmland areas for effective protection.

Area and quality must increase

The study examined how the area and quality of natural habitats influence the populations of wild bees, bumblebees, hoverflies, and butterflies. For all species groups, this simple relationship rang true: the more natural habitat, the more pollinators in farmland areas. Habitats with more flowering plants also harbored more pollinators of all groups than areas with few flowers. “However,” first author Gabriella Bishop says, “it is better to focus on increasing the area of natural habitats first, instead of on managing small habitats, even when they have many flowers.”

Quality and longevity

Pollinator conservation in Europe focuses heavily on temporary measures on small areas of productive land, such as wildflower strips along crops. Previous research has shown that this does lead to a temporary increase in insects and pollinators. However, the new study shows that much more habitat is needed and that the quality of the new habitats must be guaranteed in the long term. Last author Thijs Fijen: “To really make a difference, it should be possible to reward farmers for the long-term creation and maintenance of new natural habitats on their farms. This means 20-30 years, otherwise it results in too much insecurity for farmers and benefits for pollinators will be too low.”

Policy relevance

There is increasing evidence that biodiversity is important, not just for nature, but also for people. Pollinators, for instance, ensure the production of many of the crops that people rely on for food. The recently adopted EU Nature Restoration Regulation therefore aims to halt the decline of biodiversity in general and in pollinators specifically. Restoring or protecting natural habitats in agricultural landscapes is an important tool in that strategy. EU member states are currently developing concrete action plans for how they want to achieve this.

Click here for accessing the autors' accepted version of the article ‘Critical habitat thresholds for effective pollinator conservation in agricultural landscapes’, published in Science on 25 September 2025.

This project receives funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 862480.