Combined exposure to microplastics and heat changes behavior, colony development, and social networks in pollinators (Bombus terrestris)Download PDF Download PDF ArticleOpen accessPublished: 27 August 2026Dong Sheng ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5658-57711,2,3 na1,Siyuan Jing ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6386-32472,3,4 na1,Marcel Balle ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4888-38482 &…Thomas Cherico Wanger ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0435-11532,3,5 Communications Biology (2026) Cite this articleSave articleView saved research We’re sharing this article early to provide faster access to peer-reviewed, accepted research. It is citable and carries a permanent DOI. This version is subject to further edits and will be replaced automatically by the final Version of Record. All legal disclaimers apply.AbstractPollinators play a critical role in terrestrial ecosystems and for food security, but their populations are declining from multiple stressors including pollution and climate change. The effects of plastic pollution alone or in interaction with climate change remain largely unexplored. Here, we use computer-vision monitoring to investigate microplastic exposure effects on pollinators at individual, colony and network level in combination with heating to simulate climate warming. In a one-generation trial with 30 bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) colonies, we kept colonies under optimal (25 °C) or heated condition (30°C), and fed them with pollen and sucrose solution containing no, low, or high polyethylene concentrations (respectively 0, 10, or 100 mg/L 30μm beads). We find individual and combined effects of microplastic exposure and heat stress on bumblebees across levels, including stimulating individual activity, altering labor division, impairing colony development, and influencing social interactions. These findings show that plastic pollution under a changing climate has significant implications for pollinator behavior and colony development. Future research urgently needs to target the interactions of plastic pollution with other pollinator decline stressors and assess the potential implications for food security.AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank Dr. Lishun Wang and Dr. Xin Yuan for their generous help in the object detection model framework. We thank Dr. Dimitrios Karanikolopoulos for his support in matrix code tracking techniques at an early stage of the work. Dr. Acheampong Atta-Boateng provided insightful suggestions on social network analysis.FundingFunding provided by Westlake University. Open access funding provided by Agroscope.Author informationAuthor notesThese authors contributed equally: Dong Sheng, Siyuan Jing.Authors and AffiliationsCollege of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaDong ShengSustainable Agricultural Systems & Engineering Lab, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou, ChinaDong Sheng, Siyuan Jing, Marcel Balle & Thomas Cherico WangerKey Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou, ChinaDong Sheng, Siyuan Jing & Thomas Cherico WangerDepartment of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, ChinaSiyuan JingProduction Technology & Diversified Cropping Systems, Department of Plant Production, Agroscope, Nyon, SwitzerlandThomas Cherico WangerAuthorsDong ShengView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSiyuan JingView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarMarcel BalleView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarThomas Cherico WangerView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarCorresponding authorsCorrespondence to Dong Sheng or Thomas Cherico Wanger.Ethics declarationsCompeting interestsT.C.W. and D.S. report a patent, CN120124651A/US20250190729A1, published for the computer-vision detection methods and monitoring systems used in this paper. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.Additional informationPublisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Supplementary informationRights and permissionsOpen Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. 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