WildPosh was featured in the latest Pollinator Power Network newsletter in May 2024, highlighting the project’s efforts to understand pesticide exposure risks and develop methods for risk assessment.
Research on pesticide effects on pollinators is limited. It focuses mainly on honeybees, which lack diverse biological and ecological traits, and may not accurately represent the broad range of pollinators affected. The collaboration between WildPosh and the Pollinator Power Network is a new beginning towards bridging the knowledge gaps and allowing policymakers, pesticide users, and citizens to make more informed decisions.
The topic of the newsletter series for May was Pollinator Project Success Stories, and each newsletter highlights different projects supporting pollinators. One of them presented WildPosh, giving an overview of the project's main goal and five core objectives:
- Determine the real-world agrochemical exposure profile of wild pollinators at landscape level, within and among sites.
- Characterise causal relationships between pesticides and pollinator health.
- Build an open database on pollinator traits/distribution and chemicals to define exposure and toxicity scenarios.
- Propose new tools for risk assessment on wild pollinators.
- Drive policy and practice.
The newsletter also provides insight into our sister project, PollinERA. Both WildPosh and PollinERA aim to expand current risk assessment frameworks beyond honeybees to include a variety of wild pollinators. This comprehensive approach will enhance our understanding of pesticide risks to biodiversity.
The projects will continue to operate closely together to ensure awareness and facilitate impactful policy changes that will improve protection for pollinators and the ecosystems they sustain. This will also involve cooperative communication and dissemination initiatives with Pollinator Power Network.
Pollinator Power Network (PPN) was founded by Liah, an ecologist with a deep passion for pollinators, back in 2023. The initiative was born with the idea to empower and inspire others to raise awareness and make a significant environmental impact. The main goal is spreading awareness of the instrumental role pollinators play in our ecosystems, shedding light on the serious declines they face (with profound impacts on our planet's plants and animals), and empowering people to create and conserve pollinator habitat as part of a grassroots network of gardeners.
Read the full newsletter here.
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