This project looks at how air pollution is impacting insects that are critical for crop pollination more significantly than insects that are considered pests.
The paper, titled Air pollution disproportionately impairs beneficial invertebrates: a meta analysis, identified a potential cause-and-effect relationship with ozone as a key pollutant which particularly impacts pollinators.
This was a particularly large and robust study, which considered many different invertebrate species and therefore has the potential to inform global policy setting for climate and biodiversity targets, some of which is already happening.
Dr James Ryalls is a lecturer and researcher in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Reading.