There is an important role for indigenous and local knowledge in a Multiple Evidence Base to make decisions about the use of biodiversity and its management. This is important both to ensure that the knowledge base is complete (comprising both scientific and local knowledge) and to facilitate participation in the decision making process. We present a novel method to gather evidence in which we used a peer-to-peer validation process among farmers that we suggest is analogous to scientific peer review. We used a case-study approach to trial the process focussing on pollinator decline in India. Pollinator decline is a critical challenge for which there is a growing evidence base, however, this is not the case world–wide. In the state of Orissa, India, there are no validated scientific studies that record historical pollinator abundance, therefore local knowledge can contribute substantially and may indeed be the principle component of the available knowledge base. Our aim was to collate and validate local knowledge in preparation for integration with scientific knowledge from other regions, for the purpose of producing a Multiple Evidence Base to develop conservation strategies for pollinators. Farmers reported that vegetable crop yields were declining in many areas of Orissa and that the abundance of important insect crop pollinators has declined sharply across the study area in the last 10–25 years, particularly Apis cerana, Amegilla sp. and Xylocopa sp. Key pollinators for commonly grown crops were identified; both Apris cerana and Xylocopa sp. were ranked highly as pollinators by farmer participants. Crop yield declines were attributed to soil quality, water management, pests, climate change, overuse of chemical inputs and lack of agronomic expertise. Pollinator declines were attributed to the quantity and number of pesticides used. Farmers suggested that fewer pesticides, more natural habitat and the introduction of hives would support pollinator populations. This process of knowledge creation was supported by participants, which led to this paper being co-authored by both scientists and farmers

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Ecological intensification (EI) of agriculture through the improvement of ecosystem service delivery has recently emerged as the alternative to the conventional intensification of agriculture that is widely considered unsustainable and has negative impacts on the environment. Although tropical agricultural landscapes are still heterogeneous, they are rapidly losing diversity due to agricultural intensification. Restoration of natural or semi-natural habitats, habitat diversity, and provision of multiple benefits have been identified as important targets for the transition to EI. Choosing the right plant mixes for the restoration of habitats that can offer multiple ecosystem service benefits is therefore crucial. The selection of candidate species for plant mixes is generally informed by studies focusing on a specific ecosystem service (e.g., pollination) and not based on the whole arthropod—non-crop plant interactions matrix. In this study, we try to identify non-crop plant mixes that would provide habitat for pollinators, act as refugia for natural pest predators, and also as a trap crop for potential crop pests by studying non-crop plants—arthropod interaction network. We have identified the non-crop plant species mixes by first identifying the connector species based on their centrality in the network and then by studying how their sequential exclusions affect the stability of the network.

Understanding the pollination biology of medicinal plants and their important insect pollinators is necessary for their conservation. The present study explored the complex interactions between pollinator visitation and effect of floral traits on pollinator behaviour on seven medicinal plant species grown in an urban garden in West Bengal, an eastern Indian state. The observations revealed 30 morphospecies of insect flower visitors (Diptera, Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera) that touched floral reproductive parts on the selected plants during visitation. Additionally, it was observed that floral traits (e.g., corolla length and corolla opening diameter) were important predictors of the behaviour of insects when visiting the flowers. Plant–pollinator interactions were analysed using a bipartite network approach which explored the important links between insect and plants in the network revealing the key interactions, and species which are crucial to system maintenance. This piece of work contributes to our ability to understand and maintain a stable medicinal plant–pollinator network which will support efforts to conserve native flora and insects.