The buff-tail bee.
Bumblebee declines, microbes, and amazing birds
13 June 2011
This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: what UK farmers are doing to protect the country's vanishing bumblebees, butterflies and other pollinating insects; how scientists are trying to figure out how many types of microbes there are on our planet and why they all matter; and why birds are more amazing than we ever imagined.
Bumblebees, butterflies, honeybees and other pollinating insects are in trouble the world over. Habitat loss and farming intensification have led their populations to decline at a worrying rate. You might not think this affects you, but the fact is we rely on these insects to pollinate the crops that feed everyone.
Now it turns out that farmers can help pollinating insects by limiting grass growth in so-called buffer margins and encouraging wildflowers to grow. Richard Hollingham meets a farmer and a scientist just outside Reading in southern England to find out how the scheme works.
Later, Tim Hirsch meets ecologists in the Amazon and the UK to find out about a new global initiative called the Earth Microbiome Project. The project aims to build up the most detailed global picture of microbial diversity yet. A grand feat, but crucial if we want to understand how microbes contribute to the health of every ecosystem on Earth.
Listen
Click the play button above to listen now.
A full text transcript is available.
Finally: the wonders of birds, and how technology is revealing exactly how high, fast and far these amazing creatures can go.
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Keywords:
Antarctic,
Arctic,
Asia,
Biodiversity,
Environmental change,
Europe,
Natural resources,
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