Lesson Plan: Insect Pollination in a Warming World

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.

Step 1: Topic introduction and discussion 

1. 1. 1. Use the reading, ‘Pollination by Insects’ by LibreTexts^TM, UC Davis, to briefly introduce the topic of insect pollination to your students.
      2. Use this reading to describe the different types of insect pollinators, plant adaptations and nectar guides.
      3. Discuss how both insects and flowers benefit from the symbiotic relationship in plant-pollinator systems.

      This can be accessed  here.

Step2 : Conduct a set of classroom/laboratory/field activities

1. 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.
2. Use the activities to enable students to learn about and examine pollen grains, pollen tubes, and pollen germination.

This can be accessed here.

3. 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.
4. Use the built-in questions to evaluate student understanding of these topics.
5. 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.
6. 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.

This can be accessed here.

Step 3: Discuss further

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Finally, talk about the interdependence of bees and flowering plants and how climate change may affect their survival.

This can be accessed here.

Step 4: Optional Undergraduate Homework Assignment: Reading

1. 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.

2. Instruct your students to read the report as a homework assignment and it follow up with a classroom discussion.
3. Use the reading to highlight the different climate variables such as temperature, precipitation, and extreme climate events that affect crop pollination.
4. 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.
5. Finally, discuss the economic implications of the effects of climate change on crop pollination and thereby, on global food security.

This can be accessed here.

Suggested questions/assignments for learning evaluation :

1. What is a plant-pollinator system? Give examples.
2. How do environmental changes affect insect pollinator behavior?
3. What is the importance of insect pollination for global food security?
4. What are the impacts of climate change on insect pollination?

The tools in this lesson plan will enable students to:

1. learn about insect pollination, plant-pollinator systems, and types of insect pollinators
2. describe factors such as temperature, precipitation, and extreme weather events affecting insect pollination
3. discuss the implications of climate change on plants and insect pollination