Air pollution disproportionately impairs beneficial invertebrates: a meta-analysis

Ryalls, J. M. W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2015-3605, Bishop, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2114-230X, Mofikoya, A. O., Bromfield, L. M., Nakagawa, S. and Girling, R. D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8816-8075 (2024) Air pollution disproportionately impairs beneficial invertebrates: a meta-analysis. Nature Communications, 15. 5447. ISSN 2041-1723 doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-49729-5

Abstract/Summary

Air pollution has the potential to disrupt ecologically- and economically-beneficial services provided by invertebrates including pollination and natural pest regulation. To effectively predict and mitigate this disruption requires an understanding of how the impacts of air pollution vary between invertebrate groups. Here we conduct a global meta-analysis of 120 publications comparing the performance of different invertebrate functional groups in unpolluted and polluted atmospheres. We focus on the pollutants ozone, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. We show that beneficial invertebrate performance is reduced by air pollution, whereas the performance of plant pest invertebrates is not significantly affected. Ozone pollution has the most detrimental impacts, and these occur at concentrations below national and international air quality standards. Changes in invertebrate performance are not dependent on air pollutant concentrations, indicating that even low levels of pollution are damaging. Predicted increases in tropospheric ozone could result in unintended consequences to global invertebrate populations and their valuable ecological services.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/116896
Identification Number/DOI	10.1038/s41467-024-49729-5
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Agriculture, Policy and Development > Department of Sustainable Land Management > Centre for Agri-environmental Research (CAER)
Publisher	Nature Publishing Group
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