Advancing pollinator biodiversity, ecosystem resilience, and sustainable agriculture across the Canadian Prairies.
Pollinators are essential components of healthy ecosystems, supporting the reproduction of flowering plants, maintaining biodiversity, and contributing to agricultural productivity. Across the Canadian Prairies, native bees, butterflies, moths, flies, and other pollinating insects play important ecological roles in grasslands, rangelands, croplands, wetlands, and natural habitats.
However, pollinator populations face increasing pressures from habitat loss and fragmentation, agricultural intensification, climate change, and other environmental stressors. Understanding these challenges and developing effective conservation strategies are important for sustaining biodiversity and the ecological functions of prairie landscapes.
The Prairie Pollinator Ecology and Conservation Program at the Prairie Institute for Agriculture and Ecology (PIAE) aims to advance interdisciplinary research on pollinator biodiversity, habitat conservation, ecological interactions, and sustainable land management across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
By integrating ecological research, agricultural science, landscape analysis, and environmental monitoring, the program seeks to generate scientific evidence and practical solutions that support healthy pollinator populations, resilient ecosystems, and sustainable agricultural landscapes.
PIAE promotes an integrated, collaborative, and science-based approach to pollinator research. The program aims to bring together expertise in ecology, agriculture, biodiversity conservation, soil science, climate science, and geospatial analysis.
Through partnerships with agricultural producers, researchers, Indigenous communities, conservation organizations, government agencies, and other stakeholders, PIAE seeks to connect scientific research with practical conservation and land-management solutions.