{"id":27933,"date":"2023-08-02T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T08:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/?p=27933"},"modified":"2023-07-28T14:19:13","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T13:19:13","slug":"why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Why there are fewer insects on UK farms than there were a century ago \u2013 and how to restore them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Insect populations are declining worldwide at a rate of\u00a0almost 1% per year<\/a>. This decline is alarming. Insects play a crucial role in pollinating crops, controlling crop pests and maintaining soil fertility.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

In the UK alone, pollination provided by bees and other insects adds\u00a0over \u00a3600 million<\/a>\u00a0to crop production every year. That\u2019s about 10% of the country\u2019s total annual crop value.<\/p>\n

Through pollination, insects also make sure that fruit and vegetables are packed full of the vitamins and minerals needed for\u00a0healthy human diets<\/a>. Insufficient pollination would result in lower-quality foods, less choice and higher food prices.<\/p>\n

The decline of pollinating insects is already\u00a0affecting crop yields<\/a>\u00a0in the UK.\u00a0Research<\/a>\u00a0on 20 UK apple orchards found that a lack of pollination led to average yield deficits (where the maximum potential output of these orchards was not reached) of up to 22%.<\/p>\n

The issue extends beyond the UK\u2019s borders. The UK imports a substantial proportion of fresh produce from regions such as Europe, north Africa, South America and Asia. So the global decline of pollinating insects also poses a\u00a0huge threat<\/a>\u00a0to food security in the UK.<\/p>\n

Just like fertiliser and water, these insects should be considered a legitimate agricultural input that needs to be protected and managed sustainably. There are effective methods available to restore beneficial insects to farmland, such as planting hedgerows and using pesticides sparingly, and farming practices are gradually changing. However, the implementation of these methods in the UK falls short of what is required to ensure the country\u2019s food and nutritional security.<\/p>\n

\"Bee<\/h2>\n

Pollinators are under siege<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0main threats to pollinators<\/a>\u00a0globally are changes in what land is used for and how it is managed. As a result of the shift to modern industrialised farming, flower meadows and hedgerows have been replaced by monocultures and increasingly large fields. Consequently, the diversity of food sources available to pollinators has decreased and farmed landscapes have generally become\u00a0less hospitable<\/a>\u00a0habitats for insects.<\/p>\n

The excessive use of chemical pesticides and the impacts of climate change have made matters even worse. Rising temperatures are\u00a0creating a mismatch<\/a>\u00a0between crop flowering times and when pollinators emerge. Bumblebees, for example, which are\u00a0vital pollinators<\/a>\u00a0for crops both in the UK and globally, are\u00a0struggling to shift their range<\/a>\u00a0in response to Europe\u2019s warming climate.<\/p>\n

Together, these factors are driving losses in the abundance and diversity of pollinator species. Modelling studies have revealed\u00a0around a 25% drop<\/a>\u00a0in the number of bee and hoverfly species observed within any 10km area of the UK compared to the 1980s.<\/p>\n

And yet, the UK\u2019s reliance on pollinating insects is likely to increase in the future.<\/p>\n

Factors including climate change, technological advancements, shifting market demands and policies promoting sustainable food security mean new and\u00a0underutilised crops<\/a>\u00a0such as soy, sunflowers and apricots are likely to be grown in the UK within the coming decades. Many of these crops\u00a0benefit from<\/a>\u00a0insect pollination.<\/p>\n

Restoring insects to farms<\/h2>\n

Thankfully, there has been a notable shift in farming practices in recent decades towards reducing fertiliser, herbicide and pesticide use and restoring insect habitats. One approach is\u00a0integrated pest management<\/a>. This is a strategy for sustainable crop pest control that is based on using pesticides only when they are absolutely necessary.<\/p>\n

The strategy was developed in response to steadily increasing pesticide use, which caused\u00a0environmental damage<\/a>\u00a0and pesticide resistance. Farmers using integrated pest management are encouraged to prioritise the protection of natural predators such as wasps and spiders, which can help control pests effectively.<\/p>\n

By reducing reliance on pesticides, integrated pest management also helps to protect pollinators.\u00a0Research<\/a>\u00a0shows that bumblebees exposed to neonicotinoid pesticides (a widely used class of pesticide), for example, visited fewer flowers on apple trees and collected pollen less often.<\/p>\n

In the UK, farmers are now incentivised to adopt environmentally sustainable practices through the\u00a0environmental land management scheme<\/a>. This scheme, which was fully launched in 2023, pays farmers to undertake activities that protect and enhance the natural landscape. These activities include planting hedgerows and flower strips along field boundaries, or creating woodlands.<\/p>\n

Research<\/a>\u00a0demonstrates that expanding natural habitats in the UK\u2019s productive arable farmland can boost pollinating insect populations. And, despite taking a portion of land out of productive agriculture, this approach did not reduce harvests.<\/p>\n

Another option is\u00a0agroforestry<\/a>, where tree planting is deliberately combined with agriculture. This approach diversifies the farmed landscape and\u00a0has been found<\/a>\u00a0to support twice as many pollinators as conventional cropping systems. In the case of apple pollination, these systems can even provide up to four and a half times more pollination.<\/p>\n

But to fully\u00a0amplify the benefits<\/a>\u00a0of agroforestry for pollinators, the UK needs to meet its national tree planting targets of 30,000 hectares per year by 2030. The current rate of tree planting falls significantly short of this target. Between 2018 and 2022, only\u00a013,000 hectares were planted per year<\/a>\u00a0in the UK.<\/p>\n

Over the past century, farming practices have contributed to insect declines. Supporting farmers to provide high-quality habitats for insects will not only help to slow down \u2013 or even reverse \u2013 insect decline, but will help to secure the UK\u2019s food security.<\/p>\n

Simon Potts<\/a> is <\/span>Professor of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services at the University of Reading. Michael Garratt is <\/span>Principal Research Fellow at the University of Reading. Tom Breeze<\/a> is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Reading.<\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons Licence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Insect populations are declining worldwide at a rate of\u00a0almost 1% per year. This decline is alarming. Insects play a crucial role in pollinating crops, controlling crop pests and maintaining soil…Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":693,"featured_media":27934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1785],"tags":[2442,109,189,1474,1213,1416,356,2277,2440,2441,478,2238,698,1274,2041],"class_list":["post-27933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture-food-and-health","tag-agroforestry","tag-bees","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-crisis","tag-crop-production","tag-crops","tag-farming","tag-feature","tag-fruit-and-vegetables","tag-hedgerows","tag-insects","tag-pesticides","tag-pollinators","tag-soil-health","tag-sustainable-agriculture"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy there are fewer insects on UK farms than there were a century ago \u2013 and how to restore them - Connecting Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Insect populations are declining worldwide at a rate of\u00a0almost 1% per year. This decline is alarming. Insects play a crucial role in pollinating crops, controlling crop pests and maintaining soil fertility.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why there are fewer insects on UK farms than there were a century ago \u2013 and how to restore them - Connecting Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Insect populations are declining worldwide at a rate of\u00a0almost 1% per year. This decline is alarming. Insects play a crucial role in pollinating crops, controlling crop pests and maintaining soil fertility.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Connecting Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theuniversityofreading\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-02T08:00:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-28T13:19:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2023\/07\/red-zeppelin-wK8FotlDnrc-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UniRdg_Research\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UniRdg_Research\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Why there are fewer insects on UK farms than there were a century ago \u2013 and how to restore them\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-02T08:00:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-28T13:19:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/\"},\"wordCount\":919,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"agroforestry\",\"bees\",\"climate change\",\"climate crisis\",\"Crop Production\",\"crops\",\"farming\",\"feature\",\"fruit and vegetables\",\"hedgerows\",\"insects\",\"pesticides\",\"pollinators\",\"soil health\",\"sustainable agriculture\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Agriculture, Food & Health\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/\",\"name\":\"Why there are fewer insects on UK farms than there were a century ago \u2013 and how to restore them - Connecting Research\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-02T08:00:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-28T13:19:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"Insect populations are declining worldwide at a rate of\u00a0almost 1% per year. This decline is alarming. Insects play a crucial role in pollinating crops, controlling crop pests and maintaining soil fertility.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why there are fewer insects on UK farms than there were a century ago \u2013 and how to restore them\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/\",\"name\":\"Connecting Research\",\"description\":\"Research stories from across the University of Reading\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"University of Reading\",\"alternateName\":\"UoR\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2022\/10\/University-of-Reading-Logo-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2022\/10\/University-of-Reading-Logo-1.png\",\"width\":440,\"height\":147,\"caption\":\"University of Reading\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theuniversityofreading\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UniRdg_Research\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/university-of-reading\/mycompany\/verification\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCsFUmxmcVbVJ-9iGczsKfuw\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/University_of_Reading\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/uniofreading\/?hl=en\",\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@uniofreading\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why there are fewer insects on UK farms than there were a century ago \u2013 and how to restore them - Connecting Research","description":"Insect populations are declining worldwide at a rate of\u00a0almost 1% per year. This decline is alarming. Insects play a crucial role in pollinating crops, controlling crop pests and maintaining soil fertility.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why there are fewer insects on UK farms than there were a century ago \u2013 and how to restore them - Connecting Research","og_description":"Insect populations are declining worldwide at a rate of\u00a0almost 1% per year. This decline is alarming. Insects play a crucial role in pollinating crops, controlling crop pests and maintaining soil fertility.","og_url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/","og_site_name":"Connecting Research","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theuniversityofreading\/","article_published_time":"2023-08-02T08:00:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-28T13:19:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2023\/07\/red-zeppelin-wK8FotlDnrc-unsplash-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UniRdg_Research","twitter_site":"@UniRdg_Research","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Estimated reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Why there are fewer insects on UK farms than there were a century ago \u2013 and how to restore them","datePublished":"2023-08-02T08:00:07+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-28T13:19:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/"},"wordCount":919,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["agroforestry","bees","climate change","climate crisis","Crop Production","crops","farming","feature","fruit and vegetables","hedgerows","insects","pesticides","pollinators","soil health","sustainable agriculture"],"articleSection":["Agriculture, Food & Health"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/","name":"Why there are fewer insects on UK farms than there were a century ago \u2013 and how to restore them - Connecting Research","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-08-02T08:00:07+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-28T13:19:13+00:00","description":"Insect populations are declining worldwide at a rate of\u00a0almost 1% per year. This decline is alarming. Insects play a crucial role in pollinating crops, controlling crop pests and maintaining soil fertility.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2023\/08\/02\/why-there-are-fewer-insects-on-uk-farms-than-there-were-a-century-ago-and-how-to-restore-them\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why there are fewer insects on UK farms than there were a century ago \u2013 and how to restore them"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/","name":"Connecting Research","description":"Research stories from across the University of Reading","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/#organization","name":"University of Reading","alternateName":"UoR","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2022\/10\/University-of-Reading-Logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2022\/10\/University-of-Reading-Logo-1.png","width":440,"height":147,"caption":"University of Reading"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theuniversityofreading\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/UniRdg_Research","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/university-of-reading\/mycompany\/verification\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCsFUmxmcVbVJ-9iGczsKfuw","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/University_of_Reading","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/uniofreading\/?hl=en","https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@uniofreading"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/author\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"","source_text":"","source_url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/693"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27933"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27940,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27933\/revisions\/27940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}