Landscape Context of Field Sites in the PoshBee Project

The PoshBee project assesses bee health across 128 field sites in eight European countries, focusing on agrochemical exposure in apple and oilseed rape landscapes. Sentinel hives and nests monitor pathogens, parasites, and nutrition. Landscape metrics—such as land cover proportions, Shannon diversity, and patch cohesion—quantify habitat composition and configuration using GIS. Findings show half the sites' boundaries feature improved grasslands, hedgerows, and semi-natural habitats, supporting pollinators. PCA reveals significant variation in landscape structure, enabling unbiased pan-European analysis. Data from Switzerland, Spain, Estonia, England, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Sweden highlight regional diversity gradients, with Spanish and Swiss sites showing high habitat diversity. The study supports statistical analysis of bee health factors across biogeographic zones.