Land-Use and Climate Impacts on Plant–Pollinator Interactions and Pollination Services

Abstract

Most flowering plants rely on animals for pollination and most animal pollinators rely on flowering plants for food resources. However, there is an ongoing concern that anthropogenic-induced global change threatens the mutualistic association between plants and pollinators. Two of the most important factors of global change are land-use and climate change. Land-use and climate change may affect species distributions and species phenologies, leading to spatial and temporal mismatches between mutualistic partners. Land-use and climate change may also influence species abundances, nesting habitats, floral resources and the behaviors of pollinators. Thus, mutualistic plant–pollinator interactions should be more susceptible to global change than simple measures of biodiversity, such as species richness and species composition. The potential negative impacts of land-use and climate change on plant–pollinator interactions may have large consequences for the conservation of threatened plants and pollinators and economically by diminishing crop productivity. Here I highlight ‘fruitful avenues’ for research into better understanding the influence of land-use and climate change on plant–pollinator interactions.