There is increasing concern about the decline of pollinators worldwide. However, despite reports that pollinator declines are widespread, data are scarce and often geographically and taxonomically biased. These biases limit robust inference about any potential pollinator crisis. Non-structured and opportunistic historical specimen collection data provide the only source of historical information which can serve as a baseline for identifying pollinator declines. Specimens historically collected and preserved in museums not only provide information on where and when species were collected, but also contain other ecological information such as species interactions and morphological traits. Here, we provide a synthesis of how researchers have used historical data to identify long-term changes in biodiversity, species abundances, morphology and pollination services. Despite recent advances, we show that information on the status and trends of most pollinators is absent. We highlight opportunities and limitations to progress the assessment of pollinator declines globally. Finally, we demonstrate different approaches to analysing museum collection data using two contrasting case studies from distinct geographical regions (New Zealand and Spain) for which long-term pollinator declines have never been assessed. There is immense potential for museum specimens to play a central role in assessing the extent of the global pollination crisis. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Biological collections for understanding biodiversity in the Anthropocene’.

(1) Modern, intensive agricultural practices have been attributed to the loss of insect biodiversity and abundance in agroecosystems for the last 80 years. The aim of this work is to test whether there are statistically significant differences in insect abundance between different zones and over time on the vineyard field. (2) The study was carried out in five intensive wine farms in Spain over a three-year period (2013–2015). Each field was divided into two zones, one where cover plants were planted, and another remained unchanged (without cover). (3) A clear trend to increase the average number of insect species and individuals throughout the years in all farms was observed. Moreover, the zones with cover plants showed a significant difference with respect to the zones without. (4) The use of permanent cover plants allows creating areas of refuge for the insects favouring their conservation and reducing the agriculture impact in the insect decline.

17There is increasing concern about the decline of pollinators worldwide. However, despite 18 reports that pollinator declines are widespread, data are scarce and often geographically 19 and taxonomically biased. These biases limit robust inference about any potential 20 pollinator crisis. Non-structured and opportunistic historical specimen collection data 21 provide the only source of historical information which can serve as a baseline for 22 museum collection data using two contrasting case studies from distinct geographical 31 regions (New Zealand and Spain) for which long-term pollinator declines have never been 32 assessed. There is immense potential for museum specimens to play a central role in 33 assessing the extent of the global pollination crisis. 34

The present study analyses the effects of multifunctional areas (MA) for three years (2013)(2014)(2015) on an intensive multi-crop farm in Portugal. The implementation of MA resulted in a wide range of enhancements in the insect community, such as significant effects as a reservoir, allowing an increase of 102.47% in the number of species and 97.64% of individuals. MA play an important role in conservation strategies and help increase the population of rare and threatened arthropod species.

No abstract