Closing event of the INTEGRA research project
As part of the final event of the networking and transfer measure ‘Beenovation – Für Vielfalt und Schutz von Bestäuberinsekten’ (www.beenovation.de), funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), the team of the INTEGRA research project presented its results in Berlin on 17 October 2024.
The INTEGRA project investigates the strategic promotion of pollinator insects on agricultural land using habitat structures (www.integra.uni-freiburg.de). The main goal of the project is to create a planning tool aimed at enabling practitioners to plan the integration of habitat structures on their land and simulate possible effects. The multidisciplinary team consists of researchers from various chairs at the University of Freiburg and the University of Hohenheim and is coordinated by the Chair of Forest Growth and Dendroecology.
The results of the INTEGRA team were presented in the form of a talk, posters and a workshop. In the workshop, the online tool developed in the project for planning agroforestry systems was introduced (www.agroforst-planungstool.de). The planning tool is freely available online and is intended to help practitioners and planners with the planning and visualisation of woody plants on agricultural land. The tool can be used to simulate shading, biomass production, carbon sequestration, floral resources and effects on pollinating insects.
In addition, Prof Dr Alexandra-Maria Klein, who is part of the INTEGRA team, gave a presentation on the importance of bees for agriculture and nutrition. In the lecture, she emphasised the key role of wild bees for agricultural production.