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<h1><b>
<a href="http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2013/05/bugs-bounce-back/">
Bugs Bounce Back<br><br>
<br>
</a></b></h1><h2><b>European bees are on the
mend</b></h2>
<a href="http://www.conservationmagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/shutterstock_77546545-square.jpg">
<img src="http://www.conservationmagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/shutterstock_77546545-square.jpg" width=150 height=150 alt="[]">
</a></b></h2>Bees are making a comeback in parts of Europe, according to
a study in<i>Ecology Letters</i>.<br><br>
Much of the news about biodiversity these days is gloomy. But over the
last couple of decades, some countries have adopted
environmentally-friendly policies to bring species back. Now the question
is: Did those programs work?<br><br>
To find out, a team combed more than 29 million records of bees,
butterflies, hoverflies, and plants dating back to 1930 in the UK,
Belgium, and the Netherlands. From the 1950-60s to the 1970-80s, species
richness did drop for the three groups of insects. Dutch and Belgian bees
fared especially poorly, and every country saw butterfly
declines.<br><br>
When the researchers compared the 1970-80s to the 1990-2000s, though,
they found some optimistic signs. Species were still being lost, but at a
slower rate. And for some insects, the trend was reversed: The number of
bee species (not including bumblebees) in the UK and the Netherlands and
hoverfly species in Belgium increased.<br><br>
Species “will likely continue to bear the marks of past declines for a
long time; yet they remain diverse,” the authors write. At least in some
areas, they say, “conservation efforts may be paying off.” <b>
<i>Roberta Kwok</i> | 27 May 2013<br><br>
Source:</b> Carvalheiro, L.G. et al. 2013. Species richness declines and
biotic homogenisation have slowed down for NW-European pollinators and
plants. <i>Ecology Letters</i> doi:
<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.12121/abstract">
10.1111/ele.12121</a>.<br>
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