Name

Agroforestry Pollinator Plantations for the Future (APP4Future) is the name of our project. It reflects the need to create plantations to encourage pollinator populations for the healthy function of agriculture, including forestry.

Aims

Our aim is to identify species of trees and shrubs that could be encouraged in the UK as our climate warms. This is to ensure a continued healthy population of pollinators (insects and birds, including bees for example) which can provide pollination services across the UK into the future.

Some of these plant species will be native and some non-native…

Who

Our APP4Future project is funded by DEFRA and consists of members from ‘Forest Research‘ and from a commercial (though a not-for-profit) nursery which has a focus on providing plants/trees to encourage pollinators – ‘Bee Happy Plants and Seeds‘, with Dr Michael Street, and the amazing charity Soil Association.

Special thanks to: Lemoine, R.T. and Svenning, J.-C. (2022), Restor Ecol, 30: e13636. Nativeness is not binary—a graduated terminology for native and non‐native species in the Anthropocene – Lemoine – 2022 – Restoration Ecology – Wiley Online Library from Aarhus University.

Where

This project is originally to serve the United Kingdom, with initial plantings taking place in the South West of England. The ideas and inception could be adopted anywhere.

When

The APP4Future project’s research will initially run for one year from September 2022, now extended to October 2023, with hopes that it will become a longer term project.

Output

This interactive database APP4Future.