University of California in Riverside found out that climate change negatively affects the nutrition of the bumblebees, the existence of which is associated with the pollination of many cultivated plants, including tomatoes, blueberries, pepper and potatoes. This is reported in an article published in the MICROBIAL ECOLOGY journal.
As researchers write, climate change affects the microbial balance of floral nectar, which is a power source for insects. This threatens the health of the bumblebees, which, in turn, will affect the availability of fresh products. Even with a small increase in temperature, the metabolism of microbes is accelerated, which makes them grow faster and absorb a greater percentage of sugars in nectar.
To check the taste of bumblebees, scientists have prepared several types of nectar in the laboratory. Some nectar samples were sterile, and some contained microbes placed in conditions with low or high temperatures.
It turned out that the bumblebees were preferred only to nectar with a certain number of microbes, even if it contained less sugar. They refused nectar with a too large number of microbes, as well as from nectar without microbes. Scientists assume that bacteria and yeast help the bumblebees to digest sugar, or microorganisms produce useful insect health metabolites.