Pollinators and the Global Crisis: Understanding the Importance, Impacts and Threats to Pollination Systems

Pollinators are essential to the global economy, the wellbeing of humans, and are indispensable when it comes to maintaining food security for all humans. The ongoing decline of pollinators has led to a crisis that is being driven by anthropogenic threats. This portfolio examines pollinators and threats to pollinating systems through two bodies of work; a literature review and a research study. The literature review of previously published pollinator decline research displays a trend of study on agricultural systems and managed honey bees (Apis mellifera). Most research examining pollinator decline has focused on pesticides, agriculture and managed honey bees; in addition, most research was also focused in the global North. The research study portion of this portfolio examines the impacts of managed honey bees on wild bees in the city of Toronto. Honey bees were shown to impact the abundance of wild bees in urban landscapes. Increased abundance of honey bees in the city was also shown to impact the body size of certain groups of bees, Xylocopa, which proves that these managed bees compete over floral resources with native wild bees.