Climate change is disrupting pollinator populations through shifting phenology, habitat change, and increased frequency of extreme weather. The interaction of climate change with existing stressors creates compounding threats.
Climate change represents an existential threat to some pollinator populations, particularly specialist species with narrow ecological niches and limited dispersal ability. The behavioral and physiological stress of extreme temperatures, mismatch with food plant availability, and habitat change create welfare pressures at the population level. At the individual level, bees exhausted by heat or unable to find food during phenological mismatches face starvation. Cooling microhabitats in gardens — shaded areas, damp surfaces, dense vegetation — provide refuge during heat events. The primary welfare solution, as with all climate-related animal welfare problems, is systemic climate action.