Chicago, Climate Change And Weather: Your Questions Answered

We often talk about the big effects of climate change, but what about the small? Dari from northwest suburban Grayslake wrote in asking about climate change’s impact on some of our tiniest living things: insects.

The temperature and moisture in the environment play a major role in the lives of insects, said Professor Alex Harmon-Threatt, a pollination ecologist at the University of Illinois. That’s because most insects are ectotherms; they depend on external sources of heat. Changes in their environments can alter their metabolisms, or shift when they emerge so that they don’t line up with the plants they need.

And as Harmon-Threatt explained, the disruption of these little creatures could have a major impact. Her focus is on pollinators, like bees. She said if pollinator populations decrease, so will the plants that depend on them to reproduce. That includes fruits and vegetables that provide much of our nutrients. 

To hear the full conversation, click the red LISTEN button above.