Pollution Causing Flowers to Lose Their Scent
Posted on: Monday, 21 April 2008, 00:15 CDT
A new study by the University of Virginia suggests that pollution from auto emissions is diminishing the scent of flowers, preventing bees from pollinating them. Researchers fear that the insects' ability to fend off enemies and attract mates may also be hampered.The problem could endanger insect life and imperil food supplies.
The research, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, found that pollution from gases in car exhaust significantly reduced the distance from which insects could detect the flower’s scent.
"Scent molecules produced by flowers in a less polluted environment could travel for roughly 1,000 to 1,200 meters. But today they may travel only 200 to 300 meters . This makes it increasingly difficult for bees and other insects to locate the flowers," said Professor Jose Fuentes, the study’s leader, in an interview with Britain’s The Independent.
The researchers examined the scent given off by snapdragons, and discovered that the molecules are volatile, and rapidly bond with air pollutants formed from vehicle emissions such as nitrate radicals and ozone. The process chemically alters the molecules so they no longer smell like flowers, setting off a vicious cycle where insects struggle for adequate food and plants are not pollinated enough to proliferate.
In Britain, and throughout much of the world, bees are in an unprecedented decline. In the U.S., more than one in four of the 2.5 million honeybee colonies have inexplicably disappeared due to colony collapse disorder (CCD), where the bees suddenly desert their hives. It is an ominous sign, as bees pollinate much of the world’s crops.
The CCD crisis has recently spread to Europe, causing Britain’s agriculture minister, Lord Rocker, to warn, “the honey bee population could be wiped out in 10 years.”
The University of Virginia researchers have not yet discovered the cause of CCD, but say that pollution is straining bees and other insects in many ways.
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University of Virginia
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Source: redOrbit Staff and Wire Reports
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