Science at UM [S03-ep14]: The Bumblebee and the Thinker

[Podcast] - Published on January 18, 2024 in Science and Society

This week on *A l’UM la science*, Samson Acoca-Pidolle and Pierre-Olivier Cheptou from Cefe discuss the alarming way certain plants are adapting to the decline of pollinating insects. Géraldine Comps from MGEN, a partner of the Faculty of Education in the *Mercredis du savoir* series, presents a lecture on adolescent mental health. A show broadcast every Wednesday at 6 p.m. on Divergence FM 93.9.

“If the bee were to disappear from the face of the earth, mankind would have only four years left”—implying four years of existence. You’ve surely heard this prophecy attributed—rightly or wrongly—to Albert Einstein. For my part, I remember hearing it as a teenager and wondering whether living species, whether animal or plant, should always be viewed solely in terms of the services they provide us. Isn’t the disappearance of bees a catastrophe in and of itself? Must it lead to the disappearance of humans to become worthy of our attention? And if so, how many species are disappearing amid indifference because they are useless in our eyes? 

As I thought about it a little more, my teenage mind eventually came up with another thought: if we humans were to disappear, what other species would we take down with us?

That said… Bees haven’t completely disappeared yet, even though their population—like that of insects in general—is experiencing a massive decline, if not a full-blown collapse. This drop in activity hasn’t gone unnoticed in the plant kingdom, and some plants, abandoned by their winged pollinators, have had to develop alternative ways to continue reproducing. Good news? Not really. We’ll discuss this with our guests.

Samson Acoca-Pidolle is a doctoral student at UM and at Cefe, the Center for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, working on a dissertation about rapid adaptations in plants. He is the lead author of this publication. His thesis advisor is our second guest, Pierre-Olivier Cheptou, a CNRS research director at Cefe. They co-authored a study published in the journal New Phytologist in which they focused on a flower, the field pansy. They found that in just three decades, the plant had adapted to the decline in bumblebees by increasing its self-pollination rate by 27% and by “spending less” to attract pollinators: producing less nectar and developing smaller, less visible corollas.

Our guest for the final three minutes will be Géraldine Comps, who works at MGEN and is organizing, in partnership with the Faculty of Education (FDE), a conference on adolescent mental health. It will take place on January 24 at 5 p.m. at the FDE as part of the “Wednesdays of Knowledge” series.

At UM Science, you’ve got the program—let’s get started!

Co-production: Divergence FM / University of Montpellier
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Aline Périault / Lucie Lecherbonnier
Production: Alice Rollet / Tom Chevalier

Tune in to the show “A l’UM la science” on Divergence FM 93.9

Keywords: Science at UM, Research, Science, Company