Air pollution harms pollinators more than pests, study finds

Sub: Environment

Sec: Climate

A study by researchers from University of Reading found that:

Pollinators including bees, moths and butterflies experienced a 39% decline in foraging efficiency after being exposed to elevated air pollution levels.
In contrast, plant-eating aphids and other pests were not significantly impacted.

How pollutants affect insects?

Beneficial insects such as bees and wasps are more affected by air pollution due to their reliance on scent-based communication.
Insects use airborne chemical signals to locate flowers, find mates, or hunt their prey.
Air pollutants can chemically alter these scent trails or interfere with insects’ ability to detect them, essentially disrupting their sensory landscape.
In contrast, many pests rely less on long-distance scent cues and more on direct contact or visual cues, making them less vulnerable to air pollution’s effects on airborne chemical signals.
The study focused on various aspects, including feeding, growth, survival, reproduction, and ability to locate food sources.
Of all these factors, insects’ ability to find food was most severely impaired by air pollution, declining by about one-third on average.

Detrimental Air Pollutants

Among air pollutants, ozone emerged as particularly harmful to beneficial insects, reducing their ability to thrive and carry out their roles in the ecosystem by 35%.
Even low ozone levels below current air quality standards can cause significant damage.
Nitrogen oxides also substantially impaired beneficial insects.