BEE-STEWARD: a research and decision support software for effective land management to promote bumblebee populations

The demand for agent-based models to explore the effects of environmental
change on pollinator population dynamics is growing. However, models need
a simple yet flexible interface to enable adoption by a wide range of
stakeholders. We introduce BEE-STEWARD: a research and
decision-support software tool, enabling researchers, policy-makers, land
management advisors, and practitioners to predict and compare the
effects of bee-friendly management interventions on bumblebee populations
over several years. BEE-STEWARD integrates the BEESCOUT
and Bumble-BEEHAVE agent-based models of bumblebee behaviour,
colony growth and landscape exploration into a user-friendly interface,
with reconstructed code, and expanded functionality. Bespoke automatic
reports can be created to illustrate how different land management
interventions can affect the densities of bumblebees and their colonies
over time. BEE-STEWARD could be an important virtual test-bed for
scientists exploring the impacts of different stressors on bumblebees and
used by those with little or no modelling experience, enabling a shared
methodology between research, policy, and practice.