Using a model that simulated bumble bee foraging in UK solar parks, researchers at Lancaster University investigated different management scenarios that offered varying degrees of resources for bumble bees. Their findings indicated that solar park land managed as meadows - offering the most resources - would support four times as many bumble bees as solar park land managed as turf grass.
The researchers also found that large, elongated and resource-rich solar parks could boost bumble bee density up to 1km outside of the parks themselves, delivering pollinator services to crops in surrounding agricultural land.
In the study, in order to understand how solar park management could impact bumble bee density within solar parks and surrounding areas, the researchers used a geographic information system (GIS) to create solar parks of different sizes, shapes and management approaches based on real UK examples in real UK landscapes.
This GIS was combined with...