WildPosh

The goals of WP1 are:

1. determine optimal sampling methods and proxies for pesticide contamination in environmental compartments/matrices;
2. establish a site network to quantify sources and exposure routes of pesticides in agri-ecosystems;
3. devise and test a monitoring scheme for establishing the level of contamination of pollen/nectar/water/plant matrices/soil that can support future benchmarking;
4. quantify pesticide contamination across matrices/compartments collected across the monitoring scheme.

Lead WP1: Estonian University of Life Sciences

WP 2 will:

1. evaluate the variability among wild insect pollinators of Europe in their sensitivity to pesticides;
2. define the extent to which semi-field sensitivity mirrors lab sensitivity to pesticide in wild pollinators;
3. develop OECD protocols for testing wild insect pollinators in pesticide risk assessment.

Lead WP2: Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg

The goals of WP3 are:

1. elaborate MALDI-MS molecular fingerprints (MFPs) of fat bodies and haemolymph to understand the consequences of pesticides exposures on juvenile and adult wild pollinators;
2. assess the overall stress response to pesticides on the peptidome/proteome dysregulation by off-gel bottom-up proteomics and molecular mass imaging;
3. define diagnostic transcriptional signatures that can be used to predict sensitivity to pesticide exposure of pollinators in the field;
4. decode the molecular machinery underlying the response of pollinators to pesticide.

Lead WP3: University of Murcia

WP4 will:

1. compile a comprehensive trait database which will include traits reflecting sensitivity and exposure risk of European pollinators to pesticides and other stressors;
2. compile distributional and occurrence information on European pollinators at national and continental levels;
3. identify and collate data on pesticide exposure and effects, as well as on other stressors able to amplify the adverse effects on model species;
4. improve the existing in silico prediction methodologies for toxicity endpoints relevant to pollinators (e.g., QSAR models);
5. build an open-source curated database which will include information on pollinator traits and distribution, on pesticides, and on other stressors for model species.

Lead WP4: Biosense Institute, University of Novi Sad

The goals of WP5 are:

1. critically review current approaches of risk assessment and provide strategies for improvement integrating lethal and sublethal effects of single and multiple pesticides including interactions;
2. develop landscape models integrating pesticide exposure and hazard to inform predictive pollinator population and community risk models;
3. develop environmental scenarios for pesticide risk and mitigation models;
4. develop an integrated open-access tool for a systems-based risk assessment.

Lead WP5: University of Turin

WP6 will:

1. identify effective response options to reduce pesticide risks to wild pollinators;
2. synthesise WildPosh project findings and external knowledge;
3. develop good practice guides for practitioners to mitigate the impacts of pesticides on wild pollinators;
4. engage in science-policy dialogues to inform national and international policy on the development of mitigation measures.

Lead WP6: Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail (ANSES)

WP 7 will:

1. raise awareness of the project through a recognisable project branding and website;
2. develop a Communication Plan (CP) and Plan for the Exploitation and Dissemination of Results (PEDR) to ensure the impact and long-term legacy of the project’s results;
3. maximise WildPosh’s outreach to relevant stakeholders of the quadruple helix model;
4. establish collaboration paths and synergies with land to sea ecosystems and biodiversity actors.

Lead WP7: Pensoft Publishers

The goals of WP 8 are:

1. organise internal management structures for the project;
2. provide scientific reporting and quality control of all deliverables of the project;
3. coordinate the adequate financial management and reporting to the European Commission;
4. manage all the contractual documents, within the consortium and with the European Commission.

Lead WP8: University of Mons

This work package sets out the ‘ethics requirements’ that the project must comply with.