research how air pollution is making life difficult for insects rapid decline in population

(Ben Langford, British Center for Ecology and Hydrology; James Ryals, University of Southern Queensland)

Research: Wallingford/Toowoomba: Love them or hate them, we all depend on insects. Insects help pollinate three-quarters of the world’s crop varieties, making them a precious resource. But , We are making life difficult for insects as they face the fight against climate change, reduced settlement opportunities and the use of pesticides, which is causing a rapid decline in insect populations around the world.

Now, we can also add the dangers of air pollution to this list. Our 2022 research showed that when insects were exposed to two common air pollutants, pollinating insect visits to flowers were reduced by 90 percent.

Over a period of two years, we increased the levels of ozone or diesel exhaust around fields with flowering black mustard plants and non-flowering wheat fields. We carefully monitored pollutants around both farms.

This method allowed us to monitor the number of pollinating insects visiting flowers in polluted plots and compare them with pollutant-free plots. Was surprised by the findings. Where ozone or diesel fumes were released, the number of pollinating insects was reduced by 70 percent and the overall pollination success rate was reduced by 31 percent.

It was not just bees and butterflies that were affected but ground-dwelling insects also suffered, seeing their numbers decline by up to 36 percent after exposure to these pollutants.