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KLIMAFORSK-Stort program klima

Climate warming: A new and innovative approach for assessing resistance of bumblebees to heat waves

Tildelt: kr 0,10 mill.

Bumblebees (Bombus spp.) are among the most important pollinators in north temperate regions like Europe. Due to the huge significance of these flying helpers in world food production, the interest in studying bumblebees has exploded in recent years. There is strong evidence that climate change is one of major reasons causing bumblebee species decline, and would definitely affect bumblebee distributions across Europe. Depending on the climate scenarios and dispersion models, it is assumed, between 9-34 bumblebee species can be extremely vulnerable and are in danger of disappearing entirely from Europe by 2100. One of the major phenomena related to climate change is the increase of the frequency of heatwaves. Due to variations in climatic factors such as heatwaves and droughts, year after year, the local bumblebee fauna can change. In this context, I, in cooperation with group members of Prof. Pierre Rasmont(PR), University of MONS (UMONS), Belgium, aim to study what role heatwaves are playing/could play in determining the fate of bumblebees. Are heat waves one of the major reasons of decline of bumblebees in Norway and other European countries? To answer these questions, I, will perform heat stress resistance experiments on some of the bumblebee species from Norway and other European countries. PRs group has recently developed a novel method for evaluating heat resistance of bumblebees. In the current face of climate change and ensuring enough food production for the growing population, it is utmost essential to perform such kind of experiments. My visit through this overseas grant will initiate a new and an excellent international collaboration between NTNU, NINA and UMONS. UMONS is among the 12% of the 1200 higher education institutions evaluated which have a performance rating of very good, with more than 10 A scores. I will bring back my knowledge and experience back to initiate similar activity at NTNU, and contribute to the on-going research activity at NINA.

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KLIMAFORSK-Stort program klima