Abstract:

Aim: The impact of global climate change on ecosystems creates a pressing and significant challenge to society. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme climate events, which have a direct impact on ecosystem productivity and service functions. Here, we conducted a literature review on research progress in this field, including analyses of interaction network structure, temporal and spatial distribution changes, and the importance of “rewiring” interactive relationships and functional traits.

Progress: Recent research has focused on the effects that increasing temperatures have on plant-pollinators in two primary ways. The first is the change in plant and pollinator distributions, including the potential for extirpation of some populations. The second is the change in plant and pollinator phenology, or the change in timing of plant flowering and pollinator activity. Spatial or temporal changes in plants and pollinators under climate change may cause mismatches and potential losses of current plant-pollinator relationships. In addition, climate change may alter the functional traits and coupling between plants and their pollinators, which could affect the stability of their interactions.

Outlook: We recommend that future research should increasingly focus on: (1) covering multiple scales of biodiversity, (2) long-term monitoring of plant-pollinator interaction networks, (3) measuring the fitness of important indicator species, (4) recording changes in the functional traits of plants and pollinators along spatial and temporal scales to help rewire and/or restore their interactions, and (5) evaluating the conservation status of key plants and their pollinators.

Key words: climate change, plant-insect pollinators, distribution, phenology, mismatch, interaction