The Insect Pollinators Initiative

Insects, including bees, hoverflies, butterflies and moths, are essential for the pollination of many wild plants and crops. Unfortunately multiple factors are threatening pollinating insects. Because of the importance of insect pollinators to ecosystems, agriculture and human health the Insect Pollinators Initiative (IPI) was launched in 2010. This exciting initiative,backed by a number of funders, brings together scientists from a range of disciplines to understand the causes and consequences of changes in insect pollinator biodiversity. Their findings will inform new approaches to reduce the pressure on insect pollinators. The nine IPI projects run from early 2011 until 2014 and we would like to take this opportunity to introduce some of the advances in understanding insect pollinators that have been made and the approaches being used in the research. If you want to keep up-to-date with the research of the IPI please visit us at http://www.insectpollinatorsinitiative.net