What is the problem?

Humans have impacted the populations of pollinators in a number of ways, such as environmental changes, pesticides and herbicides, artificial lighting, climate change, and introduced and invasive species.

Pesticides are harmful to pollinators because although they do kill insects that eat crops, the pesticides also kill the bugs that are crucial to the environment too, such as butterflies, bees, spiders, and beetles. 

The lighting problem is unexpected because the most well-known pollinators work during the day, such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. But there are pollinators that get confused by the streetlights at night, such as moths and beetles. When pollinators are driven away from their natural ecosystems, their concentrated energy around the lights exhausts them and makes easy pickings for whatever predators might be hunting in that ecosystem.

Humans also move people, animals and plants to new places, which disrupts ecosystems by competing with native species for resources, and can even make native species die out. 

Climate change is another challenge for pollinators because it causes seasonal patterns to change in unexpected ways. Like if some plants are blooming at a different time in the year, pollinators can be affected in a variety of ways: they might come way before or after the flowers have bloomed and have nothing to eat, or they might become confused about when to migrate and hibernate, or any other stage of their life cycle.

What does this mean for you?

Some ways that you can help are to not use pesticides, plant native plants if possible, don't squish bugs, and spread the word about the issue.