Shortlisted for the 2024 Southwood Prize

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Kaixuan Pan discusses recent research which assessed the changes in occurrences of plants pollinated by different modes, and explored the persistence of the observed changes under different environmental conditions.

About the research

Overview

Our paper explores how plant communities in the Netherlands have changed over the past 87 years. By analyzing historical and contemporary vegetation data, we examined how different plant groups have shifted and how factors like pollination modes, habitat types, nitrogen levels, and moisture have influenced these changes. Our goal was to determine whether insect-pollinated plants have declined more than other plant groups and to understand the potential consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Challenges

We were surprised by the dramatic ecological shift: landscapes have lost a significant portion of their insect-pollinated plants over the past 87 years, with wind-pollinated species increasingly dominating.

One challenge was working with historical data. While biodiversity data is abundant today, historical datasets required careful validation and standardization to ensure comparability with modern records. Another challenge was disentangling the effects of multiple drivers, as they often interact in complex ways.

Next steps and broader implications

The next step is to investigate how the decline in insect-pollinated plants affects pollinator populations and ecosystem services like pollination. We also need to explore how restoration efforts, such as rewilding or sustainable farming practices, can reverse these trends and support both plant and pollinator diversity. Additionally, it is crucial to evaluate the effectiveness of existing conservation and restoration strategies to identify best practices and areas for improvement in biodiversity recovery efforts.

The replacement of insect-pollinated species with wind-pollinated ones signals a fundamental restructuring of plant communities, likely triggering cascading effects across ecosystems. While consistent with global biodiversity loss trends, our study provides community-specific insights that can inform European and global biodiversity monitoring. The findings highlight the need for conservation strategies that address both plant and pollinator declines, such as reducing nitrogen deposition and restoring natural grasslands. They also underscore the importance of long-term ecological monitoring to detect subtle yet significant biodiversity shifts, guiding policy interventions for plant and pollinator protection.

About the author

Current position

I am currently a researcher at Naturalis Biodiversity Center, focusing on biodiversity status and conservation.

Getting involved in ecology

During an undergraduate internship, I visited a natural reserve in China, where we studied landscapes and collected plant and butterfly specimens. This experience sparked my fascination with the intricate relationships between species and how human activities impact ecosystems. Over time, I became particularly interested in plant-pollinator interactions and biodiversity conservation, which shaped my career in ecology.

Current research focus

 I am currently working on assessing biodiversity status and how financial activities impact biodiversity. As the private sector’s role in biodiversity becomes increasingly vital, I aim to help make economic development more sustainable and contribute to biodiversity conservation and recovery. Plant and pollinator biodiversity distribution and change remain key components of my broader research career.

Advice for fellow ecologists

Stay curious and collaborative. Ecology is a complex field, and addressing its challenges often requires interdisciplinary approaches and teamwork. Don’t be afraid to explore new methods or ask big questions!

Read the full article “Dutch landscapes have lost insect-pollinated plants over the past 87 years” in Journal of Applied Ecology.

Find the other early career researchers and their articles that have been shortlisted for the 2024 Southwood Prize here!