Solar parks could boost bumble bee numbers in a win-win for nature - Lancaster University
New research shows that simple changes to how UK solar parks are managed could boost ground nesting bumble bee populations in the parks and surrounding areas, providing an additional benefit on top of renewable energy.
These preliminary results will be presented at Ecology Across Borders on Monday 13 December by Hollie Blaydes, a PhD researcher at Lancaster University.
Using a model that simulated bumble bee foraging in UK solar parks, researchers at Lancaster University investigated different management scenarios that offered varying degrees of resources for bumble bees. Their findings indicated that solar park land managed as meadows - offering the most resources - would support four times as many bumble bees as solar park land managed as turf grass.
They also found that large, elongated and resource-rich solar parks could boost bumble bee density up to 1km outside of the parks themselves, delivering pollinator services to crops in surrounding agricultural land.
Hollie Blaydes said: “Our findings provide the first quantitative evidence that solar parks could be used as a conservation tool to support and boost pollinator populations. If they are managed in a way that provides resources, solar parks could become valuable bumble bee habitat. In the UK, pollinator habitat has been established on some solar parks, but there is currently little understanding of the effectiveness of these interventions. Our findings provide solar park owners and managers with evidence to suggest that providing floral and nesting resources for bumble bees could be effective.”
Boosted bumble bee numbers in solar parks could also provide potential benefits to nearby crops through enhanced pollinator visitation. Farmers who have solar parks on or nearby their land, could choose to plant pollinator-dependent crops close to these pollinator dense areas.
In the UK, solar parks are often located within intensively managed agricultural landscapes, raising the potential of solar parks as refuges for bumble bees.
The area of land used for solar parks in the UK is also growing, increasing the potential to harness this land for additional benefits. Ground-mounted solar parks currently take up 14,000 hectares. For the UK to meet net zero targets, the Climate Change Committee projects that there will need to be an additional 54GW of solar photovoltaic, meaning a land use change of 90,300 hectares for solar parks.
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Posted On: 13/12/2021