Sensory perception and behaviour of insect pollinators under climate change

July 3, 2023

Climate change impacts on insect pollinators has largely focused on changes in abundance and range, yet pollination capacity also relies on ability to acquire, process and respond to information. We argue for the urgent need to focus on these largely overlooked processes by describing how insect sensory ecology and behaviour are affected by temperature and highlighting key knowledge gaps that should be addressed.

By enhancing crop productivity and food security, insect pollinators provide a crucial ecosystem service that is under threat due to climate change. So far, the impact of climate change on insect pollinators has mostly been assessed in terms of phenological and spatial shifts, which identify changes in occurrence but fail to capture the effects of climate change on behaviour. Insect pollinators’ sensory perception and behaviour are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change both because insects have only a limited capacity to actively regulate body temperature¹ and because the molecular processes underlying the acquisition, processing and behavioural output in response to sensory signals are temperature dependent. By impairing these processes, elevated temperatures caused by climate change — particularly increasing average temperatures and the increasing frequency and intensity of heatwaves — will have a severe impact on the ecosystem services provided by this important animal group.

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**Fig. 1: Expected effects of elevated temperatures on bee foragers.**

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by an Interdisciplinary Research Environment Grant from the Swedish Research Council (grant number 2018-06238). M.G. was also supported by a Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher Grant from the Wenner-Gren Stiftelserna (grant number UPD2021-0044).

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Authors and Affiliations

INSECT Lab, Division of Functional Morphology, Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

M. Gérard, C. E. Restrepo & E. Baird
CEFE, University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France

M. Vanderplanck

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M. Gérard

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M.G. and E.B. led the writing. All authors contributed to the writing, edits and ideas that shaped this paper.

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M. Gérard.

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Gérard, M., Vanderplanck, M., Restrepo, C.E. et al. Sensory perception and behaviour of insect pollinators under climate change.
Nat. Clim. Chang. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01720-6

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Published: 03 July 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01720-6

Sensory perception and behaviour of insect pollinators under climate change

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