As a high school or introductory undergraduate Biological Sciences teacher, you can use this set of computer-based tools to teach about insect pollination and the impact of climate change on pollinators, pollinator systems and food security.
This lesson plan will allow you to teach about insect pollination and various plant-pollinator systems. It includes a hands-on activity to teach your students about plant adaptations and nectar guides, different types of pollinators, their role in the natural and man-made world, and the environmental factors that affect pollinator behavior and effectiveness. This lesson plan will further explain how warming global temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, and extreme weather events due to climate change, influence insect pollination.
Thus, the use of this lesson plan allows you to integrate the teaching of a climate science topic with a core topic in Biological Sciences.
The tools in this lesson plan will enable students to:
Lesson plan developed with contribution from Gargi Khandelwal, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, India.
Want to know more about how to contribute? Contact us.
| Grade Level | High School, Undergraduate |
| Discipline | Biological Sciences |
| Topic(s) in Discipline | Botany, Ecosystems, Pollination, Phenology, Entomology, Fertilization, Insect Pollination, Pollinators, Plant-Pollinator Systems, Adaptations, Nectar Guides, Types of Pollinators, Pollinator Behavior, Flower Structure, Flower Mechanics, Pollen Viability, Stigma Receptivity, Pollen Tube Growth |
| Climate Topic | Climate and the Biosphere |
| Location | Global, USA |
| Language(s) | English |
| Access | Online / offline |
| Approximate Time Required | 2-3 sessions, 45-60 min each. |
| Share | |
| Resource Download |
Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.
Reading (10 mins)
Use the reading, ‘Pollination by Insects’ by LibreTextsTM, UC Davis, to briefly introduce the topic of insect pollination to your students. Use this reading to describe the different types of insect pollinators, plant adaptations and nectar guides. Discuss how both insects and flowers benefit from the symbiotic relationship in plant-pollinator systems.
Classroom/Laboratory activities (30-45 min per session)
Use the hands-on set of classroom/laboratory activities, ‘Bouquet of Flowers’ by Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Cornell University, to extend student understanding about flower design, and plant and vector adaptations for pollination. Use the activities to enable students to learn about and examine pollen grains, pollen tubes, and pollen germination.
Use the hands-on set of field activities, ‘Pollination Ecology: Field Studies of Insect Visitation and Pollen Transfer Rates’ by Judy Parrish, Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology (TIEE), Ecological Society of America, to enable your students to understand plant-pollinator systems, flowering times, insect visitation rates, and pollen ecology. Use the built-in questions to evaluate student understanding of these topics. Use the tool to design student lab/field experiments to enable them to test various hypotheses related to the topics, analyze data, and prepare a formal report. Finally, discuss the student reports in the context of a changing climate. Encourage your students to comment on how their field observations could be affected by global warming, changing precipitation, and extreme weather conditions.
Video (~5 min)
Use the video, ‘Sting of Climate Change’ by NASA (Climate Change and Global Warming) to describe an effect of climate change on plants and insect pollination. Use the tool to talk about NASA scientist Wayne Esaias’ research on bee data and related satellite imagery. Discuss the observations that global warming has resulted in early flowering times that may not coincide with bee visitation periods and thereby, impact pollination in flowering plants. Finally, talk about the interdependence of bees and flowering plants and how climate change may affect their survival.
Reading (60 mins)
Use FAO’s 2011 report, ‘Potential Effects of Climate Change on Crop Pollination’ to enable your students to understand the effects of climate change on pollinators, and the temperature sensitivity of crop pollinators and entomophilous crops. Instruct your students to read the report as a homework assignment and it follow up with a classroom discussion. Use the reading to highlight the different climate variables such as temperature, precipitation, and extreme climate events that affect crop pollination. Further, use the reading to discuss how climate change has affected quality and quantity of nectar and pollen, phenological events, and pollinator behavior, visitation rates, and distribution. Finally, discuss the economic implications of the effects of climate change on crop pollination and thereby, on global food security.
Use the tools and the concepts learned so far to discuss and determine answers to the following questions:
Use this lesson plan to help your students find answers to:
| 1 | Reading; ‘Buzzing about Climate Change’ | A reading that describes NASA Scientist Wayne Esaias’ research using bee data and satellite imagery to make observations on the effects of
climate change on plant pollination.
This can be accessed here. |
| 2 | Reading; ‘Pollination & human livelihoods’ | A reading that highlights the economic importance of the Mulberry plant
in various fields for sustainable development.
This can be accessed here . |
| 1 | Reading; ‘Pollination by Insects’ | By LibreTextsTM, UC Davis. |
| 2 | Classroom/Laboratory Activity; ‘Bouquet of Flowers’ | Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Cornell University. |
| 3 | Classroom/Field Activity; ‘Pollination Ecology: Field Studies of Insect Visitation and Pollen Transfer Rates’ | By Judy Parrish, Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology (TIEE), Ecological Society of America. |
| 4 | Video; ‘Sting of Climate Change’ | NASA (Climate Change and Global Warming) |
| 5 | Reading; ‘Potential Effects of Climate Change on Crop Pollination’ | Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) |
| 6 | Additional Resources | NASA Earth Observatory Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) |
| Grade Level | High School, Undergraduate |
| Discipline | Biological Sciences |
| Topic(s) in Discipline | Pollination, Fertilization, Insect Pollination, Pollinators, Plant-Pollinator Systems, Adaptations, Nectar Guides, Types of Pollinators, Pollinator Behavior, Flower Structure, Flower Mechanics, Pollen Viability, Stigma Receptivity, Pollen Tube Growth |
| Climate Topic | Climate and the Biosphere |
| Location | Global, USA |
| Language(s) | English |
| Access | Online / offline |
| Approximate Time Required | 2-3 sessions, 45-60 min each. |
| Share | |
| Resource Download |
Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.
Reading (10 mins)
Use the reading, ‘Pollination by Insects’ by LibreTextsTM, UC Davis, to briefly introduce the topic of insect pollination to your students. Use this reading to describe the different types of insect pollinators, plant adaptations and nectar guides. Discuss how both insects and flowers benefit from the symbiotic relationship in plant-pollinator systems.
Classroom/Laboratory activities (30-45 min per session)
Use the hands-on set of classroom/laboratory activities, ‘Bouquet of Flowers’ by Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Cornell University, to extend student understanding about flower design, and plant and vector adaptations for pollination. Use the activities to enable students to learn about and examine pollen grains, pollen tubes, and pollen germination.
Use the hands-on set of field activities, ‘Pollination Ecology: Field Studies of Insect Visitation and Pollen Transfer Rates’ by Judy Parrish, Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology (TIEE), Ecological Society of America, to enable your students to understand plant-pollinator systems, flowering times, insect visitation rates, and pollen ecology. Use the built-in questions to evaluate student understanding of these topics. Use the tool to design student lab/field experiments to enable them to test various hypotheses related to the topics, analyze data, and prepare a formal report. Finally, discuss the student reports in the context of a changing climate. Encourage your students to comment on how their field observations could be affected by global warming, changing precipitation, and extreme weather conditions.
Video (~5 min)
Use the video, ‘Sting of Climate Change’ by NASA (Climate Change and Global Warming) to describe an effect of climate change on plants and insect pollination. Use the tool to talk about NASA scientist Wayne Esaias’ research on bee data and related satellite imagery. Discuss the observations that global warming has resulted in early flowering times that may not coincide with bee visitation periods and thereby, impact pollination in flowering plants. Finally, talk about the interdependence of bees and flowering plants and how climate change may affect their survival.
Reading (60 mins)
Use FAO’s 2011 report, ‘Potential Effects of Climate Change on Crop Pollination’ to enable your students to understand the effects of climate change on pollinators, and the temperature sensitivity of crop pollinators and entomophilous crops. Instruct your students to read the report as a homework assignment and it follow up with a classroom discussion. Use the reading to highlight the different climate variables such as temperature, precipitation, and extreme climate events that affect crop pollination. Further, use the reading to discuss how climate change has affected quality and quantity of nectar and pollen, phenological events, and pollinator behavior, visitation rates, and distribution. Finally, discuss the economic implications of the effects of climate change on crop pollination and thereby, on global food security.
Use the tools and the concepts learned so far to discuss and determine answers to the following questions:
Use this lesson plan to help your students find answers to:
| 1 | Reading; ‘Buzzing about Climate Change’ | A reading that describes NASA Scientist Wayne Esaias’ research using bee data and satellite imagery to make observations on the effects of
climate change on plant pollination.
This can be accessed here. |
| 2 | Reading; ‘Pollination & human livelihoods’ | A reading that highlights the economic importance of the Mulberry plant
in various fields for sustainable development.
This can be accessed here |
| 1 | Reading; ‘Pollination by Insects’ | By LibreTextsTM, UC Davis. |
| 2 | Classroom/Laboratory Activity; ‘Bouquet of Flowers’ | Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Cornell University. |
| 3 | Classroom/Field Activity; ‘Pollination Ecology: Field Studies of Insect Visitation and Pollen Transfer Rates’ | By Judy Parrish, Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology (TIEE), Ecological Society of America. |
| 4 | Video; ‘Sting of Climate Change’ | NASA (Climate Change and Global Warming) |
| 5 | Reading; ‘Potential Effects of Climate Change on Crop Pollination’ | Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) |
| 6 | Additional Resources | NASA Earth Observatory Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) |
