GreenBee Biodiversity Foundation Project: Restoration of livestock trails as green infrastructure for the conservation of wild bees in Natura 2000 areas
- Type Project
- Execution 2021
- Scope Europeo
- Main source of financing Fundación Biodiversidad
- Project website Web proyecto (Fundación Biodiversidad)
The project has carried out various restoration projects on livestock trails in the Community of Madrid to enhance their role as reservoirs of biodiversity for wild bees, thus strengthening their role as green infrastructure elements.
Ninety-six nests have been installed for wild bees, and pre- and post-installation sampling has been carried out to check the initial status of the populations and the level of bee occupancy of these nests.
A social study has determined that there is a significant lack of general public awareness regarding the ecological role of livestock trails and their importance for the conservation of wild bees.
The initiative contributes to several objectives of the Strategic Plan for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity.
- Analysis of the geographical and structural characterization of the livestock trails surrounding the Regional Parks of the Upper Manzanares Basin and the middle course of the Guadarrama River.
- Conduct two field verification trips to previously selected locations to verify the diagnosis made.
- Thus, it has been possible to confirm in the field that the livestock trails of the Guadarrama River Middle Course Regional Park can constitute critically important spaces for hosting natural and semi-natural habitats and, therefore, refuges for biodiversity.
- Design of the restoration plan and quantifiable indicators for its evaluation (occupancy of wild bee nest boxes, number of germinations and surviving plants in woody hedges, etc.). The interventions included in the restoration plan consisted, on the one hand, of constructing three dry-stone walls in 16 sections of livestock trail, accompanied by two wild bee nest boxes per wall, and, on the other hand, of planting native woody hedges of floral interest in another 16 sections.
- The construction of the low walls has increased biodiversity reserves and, at the same time, has promoted positive ecological effects from the perspective of preserving the multifunctionality of the landscape. Furthermore, the existence of multiple hollows of varying shapes and sizes within them provides ideal microhabitats for the activity or refuge of a large number of reptile and invertebrate species. Restoration of livestock trails in the study areas has been carried out through three types of interventions: the installation of dry-stone walls, the installation of nesting boxes for wild bees within the dry-stone walls, and the planting of low hedges with woody species of floral interest.
- Conditioning potential nesting habitats for wild bees along selected livestock trails, so that they closely resemble the natural nesting structures available to bees in the wild, thus contributing to the criteria for restoring livestock trails as green infrastructure.
- Field sampling of wild bee populations in restored habitats and control areas. The first sampling was carried out to check the initial state of the bee communities, and the second aimed to determine the state of the populations after the nest boxes were installed. These campaigns have made it possible to monitor the occupancy of wild bee nest boxes, observe their evolution, and analyze the richness and abundance of the different wild bee species on the intervened livestock trails. The richness and abundance of Apoidea species present in the habitats and different areas of the PRCMRG and PRCAM were assessed, identifying the wild bee species present, and identifying 34 wild bee morphotypes. Furthermore, it has been found that nest box occupancy has been growing exponentially since April 2021, with 87 nest boxes occupied, up to a total of 757 in December of the same year. Finally, a slight tendency towards greater abundance has been observed in landscapes with less semi-natural habitat area and more cultivated habitat area.
- Social sampling of the municipal population, with a special focus on producers, was conducted to gather information on the value that residents of the study area place on livestock trails and wild bees. Thus, 82% of respondents were aware that livestock trails are protected by law, and 89% were aware that they are linked to transhumance and local livestock movement. However, just over half of respondents believed that livestock trails provide nesting areas for wild bees; in fact, a wide range of opinions was observed regarding the idea that the existence of livestock trails is irrelevant to the presence of wild bees. Furthermore, almost 50% of respondents stated that they were little or not at all aware of the role that livestock trails play as reservoirs of biodiversity for wild bees. Therefore, the results of the study have concluded that there is a widespread lack of awareness among the population about the ecological role of livestock trails, especially in the conservation of wild bees.
- Project dissemination and communication: publications on social media and the project website, media outreach, three awareness-raising and environmental education sessions, and a technical workshop on results transfer, "Case Study: Greenbee Project," held as part of the "Pollinators: Beyond the Honeybee" course.
This initiative arises, according to the Autonomous University of Madrid, from the need to restore and enhance the role of livestock trails in territorial connectivity (the Spanish public network of livestock trails covers nearly 125,000 linear kilometers), as biodiversity habitats , with special emphasis on wild bees , in addition to providing ecological connectivity within and between spaces in the Natura 2000 Network and other protected areas.
The organization emphasizes that the project has a clear demonstrative nature, since its main objective is to implement restoration actions for livestock trails , which, when properly managed, can act as a reservoir of biodiversity and provide ecological connectivity.
In this way, the results of the initiative, complementary to the LIFE CAÑADAS project, contribute to objectives 1.3, 2.1, and 2.2 of the Strategic Plan for Natural Heritage and Biodiversity , and could also be applied in many other geographical contexts, being easily replicated in other livestock routes existing in Spain.
The overall objective of the project was to contribute to the conservation of wild bee diversity (Apoidea) in several protected areas of the Community of Madrid, part of the Natura 2000 Network, through restoration actions on livestock trails that allow their rehabilitation as green infrastructure.
The specific objectives have been the following:
- To assess the conservation status of the network of livestock trails that are operating or could potentially operate as green infrastructure in the Guadarrama River Middle Course Regional Park (PRCMRG) and the Manzanares Upper Basin Regional Park (PRCAM), paying special attention to the presence of critical habitats on livestock trails that are necessary for the survival of wild bee species and their potential to increase connectivity between Natura 2000 sites.
- Define the criteria for restoring livestock trails as green infrastructure and implement these actions in line with the recommendations developed under the State Strategy for Green Infrastructure and Ecological Connectivity and Restoration.
- Test restoration interventions on biodiversity.
- To understand the current social importance of livestock trails, as well as the importance of wild bees in the agricultural and general public sectors.
- Dissemination and communication of the project.
The GreenBee project has carried out various interventions on livestock trails in the Community of Madrid to enhance their role as reservoirs of biodiversity for wild bees (Apoidea), thus strengthening their role as green infrastructure elements capable of producing tangible ecological impacts at local and regional scales. Following a cartographic analysis, it was decided to concentrate efforts on the Guadarrama River Middle Course Regional Park, where 32 livestock trail sections were selected that had well-maintained legal widths and crossed cereal-producing agricultural landscapes.
A restoration plan was then developed in coordination with the LIFE CAÑADAS project, and interventions were carried out on 24 sections, each measuring between 600 and 700 meters in length and varying in width depending on the type of livestock trail. The interventions included the installation of dry-stone walls and the planting of aromatic and other small woody plants, in addition to the installation of 96 nest boxes for wild bees in the walls. Before carrying out these interventions, a sample of the wild bee community was conducted in the 32 sections included in the design. This pre-treatment sampling yielded a list of 34 wild bee morphotypes, distributed unevenly among the sections.
Furthermore, intensive monitoring of the occupancy of the nest boxes installed in the dry-stone walls has been carried out through visits every six weeks. Reed occupancy has shown marked growth throughout 2021, reaching a total of 757 at the end of 2021. The nest boxes have remained in place after the project was completed, and occupancy monitoring continues. In parallel to the interventions on livestock trails, the project has also considered the social environment of the municipalities in the Guadarrama River Middle Course Regional Park, mindful of the need to link actions on the territory with social stakeholders. Thus, one of the project's actions has allowed for social research on public perceptions of the ecological role of livestock trails and, in particular, their importance for the conservation of wild bees.
The data show significant room for improvement in the public's awareness of livestock trails: for example, almost 50% of the 151 respondents had little or no awareness of the role they can play as reservoirs of biodiversity for wild bees. Finally, according to the organization, the GreenBee initiative has carried out intensive dissemination of the project's objectives and results. Part of this dissemination has been carried out in the intervention area, such as holding the results feedback sessions at the Sapere Aude Secondary School in Villanueva de la Cañada (Madrid).
However, events have also been held at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and the project has participated in a workshop with technicians and managers as part of the course "Pollinators: Beyond the Honey Bee," organized by the Bosque Sur Environmental Education Center and the Api-Agro Symbiosis Operational Group. Finally, the project has also been present online and has its own space on the UAM Socioecosystems Laboratory website.
- Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
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