Extreme climatic events, particularly heatwaves, are expected to disrupt plant–pollinator interactions and compromise crop reproduction. However, it remains unclear whether landscape complexity, through enhanced pollinator communities, can buffer these negative effects. Here, we investigated whether pollination services act as a nature-based solution mitigating the impact of heat stress on plant reproductive success.

We conducted a field experiment using Brassica rapa L. plants (Wisconsin Fast Plants) as phytometers across eight sites representing contrasting landscape contexts (complex vs simplified). From May to August, plants at the same phenological stage were sequentially exposed to field conditions in ten sampling rounds, capturing seasonal variability and natural heat events. At each site and round, plants were assigned to open pollination or pollinator exclusion treatments to disentangle biotic and abiotic drivers. After a standardized exposure period, plants completed their life cycle under controlled conditions, and reproductive output (fruit set, seed number, seed weight) and biomass were quantified.

We expect that heat stress will reduce reproductive performance, but that this effect will be less pronounced in complex landscapes due to higher pollinator activity and functional redundancy. Conversely, pollinator exclusion treatments will reveal the extent to which reproductive failure is driven by direct physiological stress versus pollination limitation.

This study provides a mechanistic framework to assess how biodiversity-mediated ecosystem services can enhance agroecosystem resilience under increasing climate extremes, highlighting the role of landscape management in sustaining crop production.