Results

Fieldwork 2025

94

unique locations

The fieldwork phase of the SEPPI project was successfully completed in 2025. Eight teams carried out both automated and traditional sampling of plant–pollinator interactions across their selected study sites. In total, 94 unique locations were sampled. Most sites were surveyed once between June and September 2025, while some teams revisited their sites up to four times.

At each site, a minimum of five camera traps were installed on individual flowers of various plant species to record pollinator interactions, resulting in more than 3,000 hours of recordings overall. The captured images are currently being processed and classified into taxonomic groups, where possible down to species level.

3000

hours of camera trap recordings

13000

plant–pollinator interactions

In addition to the automated sampling, teams recorded more than 13,000 plant–pollinator interactions during transect walks. Specimens were either identified to species level directly in the field or collected for subsequent identification by taxonomic experts.

Processing of the collected data is currently ongoing to generate final species–interaction matrices for both the traditional and automated sampling methods. In the next phase, the resulting plant–pollinator network data will be compared to evaluate the efficiency and potential of the automated approach for future monitoring of plant–pollinator interactions.