Pollinators are key players in global biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, providing essential ecosystem services to wild plant communities and agricultural productivity. Both the abundance and diversity of insect pollinators have alarmingly declined across the entire globe during the last decades. This decline applies to both, wild insect populations and domesticated species, such as bumblebees (Bombus sp.) and the domestic honeybee (Apis mellifera) stocks, which are essential in horticulture and agriculture. The economic consequences are significant as the global production of pollinator-dependent crops is valued annually at over €150 billion. The land cover, configuration, management, and pesticide use worldwide are the most important culprits responsible for pollinator decline. Our project examines how field-realistic doses of the world’s widely used herbicide glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides affect pollinator perception of foraging cues and their pollination efficiency and resilience in real world agricultural settings. We will link gut microbial changes to bee performance under field conditions in order to estimate their survival and the efficiency in terms of ecosystem service. Our results will (1) demonstrate the link between changes in gut microbial diversity and abundance, and pollinator perception of plant odors, (2) unravel the efficiency and fitness of bumblebees as ecosystem services and (3) we provide key targets for scientists and decision makers on how to ensure pollination potential to support ecosystem functions and services. Our laboratories and established network of farmers are the perfect setup for the proposed research.

2023

2024