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26 Potato Grower | FEBRUARY 2015 2010 8 17 33 54 15 2012 2013 Planting of flowering strips and installing of nesting aids Species per 5 meter broad sampling plot Thereof endangered species Things looked very different in 2010 when the project began. That year, the researchers set up one area employing the new measures and one control area on each farm—a total of four areas, each spanning 50 hectares (124 acres). The project areas were designed to be insect-friendly, while the control areas remained unchanged. Before the experiment began, the team made an inventory of the wild bees and butterfly species present on each farm. They then started sowing wildflowers in between the maize and cereal fields. Ten percent of the agricultural land was turned into "insect restaurants," where pollinators can now fill up on nutrients from field poppies, sunflowers and cornflowers. The project has also tested bee shelters, such as soil banks where wild bees can breed. Conventional fields don't give the bees much shelter. "The ground is too densely vegetated, too shady and too cold," says Oppermann. "The eggs need to be kept warm if they are to develop properly." Beneficial insects like wild bees can also nest in chunks of wood with holes drilled in them, which the research team also distributed in the study areas for experimental reasons. The insects appreciate the offerings: "The situation has improved immensely over the past four years," says Maus. "At first it went quite slowly, but now the difference is very clear." In the first year, very few species of bumble bee were seen above the stretches of wildflowers. But that changed over the next few years. The number of wild bee species on one farm grew from 31 to 58, while on the other it more than doubled, rising from 34 to 74. 2010 2012 2013 13 101 Development of insect individuals 1445 Flowering plants and nesting aids have already made an impact in the study. More wild bee species buzz around in the redesigned areas, among them endangered species. Wild bees appreciate the measures taken: They were increasingly found in the redesigned fields in the course of the project. The most abundant insects in the area were bumble bees.