A novel Free-Air Diesel and Ozone Enrichment (FADOE) research platform

Globally, there is increasing concern about the potential risks of air pollution to human health and the environment. Whilst many people consider air pollution predominantly an urban issue, rural areas are also regularly exposed to a range of air pollutants. Growing evidence suggests that common air pollutants such as ozone and nitrogen oxides (NOx) may indirectly impair the fitness of plants and insects, by reacting with and chemically altering the odour compounds that plants and insects use for communication. Whilst the dominant sense used by humans is vision, many insects and plants use odours to perceive and interact with their environment. These odours can be a vital part of many everyday tasks that are critical to their survival. Insects commonly use odours to locate food (e.g. a flower's scent) or find a mate (i.e. pheromones), and plants also detect and respond to odours from other nearby plants (e.g. they can increase production of defence chemicals in their leaves if they detect odours released from neighbouring plants being fed upon by insects). Many insects provide vital ecosystem services which benefit society, e.g. the pollination of food crops, and therefore disruption of the odour cues that insects use to carry out such tasks could result in significant negative consequences.

Increasing numbers of studies are demonstrating how air pollutants can chemically alter different odour cues used by plants and insects, e.g. our previous research showed that diesel exhaust reacts with and alters the unique blend of chemicals that make up a flower's scent, making it no longer recognizable to honey bees. However, most of the evidence for these effects is from laboratory studies and simulation models, the outcomes of which do not always translate accurately to effects in nature. Field-based experiments are rare because in open air conditions it is practically very challenging to elevate pollutants in a controlled manner. Recently, we designed a novel temporary prototype facility which successfully allowed us to investigate how air pollution can impact upon important ecological processes in the field. Our initial unpublished results indicate that these impacts may be significantly greater than predicted by laboratory studies and simulation models. Moderate increases in NOx and ozone levels resulted in a 90% reduction in flower visitation by pollinators, indicating an unexpectedly severe negative impact upon insect-provided pollination.

This result substantiates the urgent need for a dedicated permanent field-based research platform to investigate: 1) which ecological process and interactions are affected and what are the potential consequences; 2) what are the mechanisms of such changes; 3) are there interventions that can be put in place to mitigate these changes?

Therefore, this project will fund the construction of a globally unique state-of-the-art bespoke research facility at the University of Reading's Sonning Farm to provide a research platform for academics across the globe to conduct cutting edge research in this scientific field. This new, Free-Air Diesel and Ozone Enrichment research platform, will consist of a series of 12 independently controllable 8-meter diameter rings. Within each ring it will be possible to accurately elevate and maintain ozone and diesel exhaust, both separately and in combination, to ecologically realistic values. Researchers will be able to alter the plant/insect communities within these rings to permit them to study the ecological impacts of these air pollutants on a range of odour-mediated interactions and, using advanced field-based chemical techniques, study the chemical mechanisms behind any changes. The facility will provide researchers with the tools to address key questions in the field and make a step change in our knowledge of how air pollution impacts upon biodiversity and the key insect-mediated ecosystem services upon which we rely for sustainable food production.

The FADOE platform will enable research that will provide a significant contribution in shaping national and international policy, in relation to both the wider environmental and health impacts of air pollution and to declines in insect biodiversity, particularly of pollinator populations. Defra's National Pollinator Strategy and Implementation Plan are key policy implements, but they do not incorporate the effects of air pollution interrupting odour communication because of insufficient evidence for field scale effects. The platform will provide such evidence and thus have a major influence on future policy, for example by contributing actionable outcomes to Defra to influence the design of the new Environmental Land Management (ELMs) schemes to benefit pollinator communities and insect biodiversity. Impact will be tracked by monitoring citations of the platform's research outputs in political debate and strategy documents and measured by whether these outputs influence ELMs design.

The FADOE platform will provide new knowledge about the precise environmental and economic costs of air pollution to key public goods, for example those insect-mediated ecosystem services that are important for sustainable food production, such as pollination and pest regulation. This research could provide a significant addition to the growing body of evidence demonstrating negative environmental and health outcomes associated with common urban and rural air pollutants. Through influencing policy and creating a strengthened argument for more rapid reductions in the emissions of these common pollutants and through the design and recommendation of mitigation measures, this platform will, in the long term, contribute to alleviating air pollution related pressures on our vital ecosystem services.

The research outputs from the FADOE platform have the potential to directly benefit multiple key stakeholder groups:

1. Non-Governmental Organisations; particularly wildlife and conservation organisations. Insects are a critical component of a healthy ecosystem and vital for the maintenance of biodiversity. This platform will provide information on how air pollution impacts upon insect ecology. This research will be used to provide actionable insights for wildlife and conservation organisations in planning and developing conservation strategies, impacting upon the management of wildlife reserves.

2. Practitioners; both (i) beekeeper groups, and (ii) growers/advisors. This platform will enable informed estimates to be developed on the effects of odour signal degradation on the ability of insects to provide pollination services and therefore the potential scale of this problem for practitioners. The outcomes of the research will be used to design and provide advisories for beekeepers on how best to manage pollinators to reduce impacts of air pollution, with respect to siting of hives. It will benefit growers/advisors, by providing information on how to enhance pollination services by taking into account the potential impacts of air pollution.

3. UK food consumers. The ecosystem services that pollinators and other insect groups provide are a vital component of the sustainable production of many nutritious crops (see point 2 above). The benefits derived by practitioners have the potential to be passed on to UK consumers in the form of lower prices and improved nutritional quality.

4. NHS/healthcare providers. Recent emissions scandals and air pollution breaches have placed air quality issues to the forefront of public awareness. The research coming from the FADOE platform will improve the current state of knowledge regarding air pollution and impact on air pollution legislation. This has the potential to contribute to reductions in exposure of members of the general public to common air pollutants, such as NOx, and therefore to improve healthcare outcomes.