climate change and pollinators

abstract this chapter describes how the climate change is potentially the mostsevere threat to pollinator biodiversity. mounting evidence demonstrates that therehave already been biotic responses to the relatively small climate changes that haveoccurred this century. pollinators such as birds, bees, butterflies, moths, flies, wasps,beetles bats and even mosquitoes are essential for food production because theytransfer pollen between seed plants-impacting 35% of the world’s crops. along withproviding an essential service to human populations, pollinators also have a key rolein maintaining other ecosystem services including ensuring biodiversity and helpingnature to adjust to external threats such as climate change. the “pollinationcrisis” that is evident in declines of honeybees and native bees worldwide is due todisruption of critical balance between the two mutually interacting organisms.anthropogenic climate change is widely expected to drive species extinct by hamperingindividual survival and reproduction, by reducing the amount and accessibilityof suitable habitat, or by eliminating other organisms that are essential to thespecies in question. the potential disruption of a ubiquitous mutualistic interactionof terrestrial habitats, that between plants and their animal pollinators, via climatechange is at risk.