Posted on 05/24/2008 6:14:48 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Air pollution from power plants and automobiles is destroying the fragrance of flowers and thereby inhibiting the ability of pollinating insects to follow scent trails to their source, a new University of Virginia study indicates. This could partially explain why wild populations of some pollinators, particularly bees – which need nectar for food – are declining in several areas of the world, including California and the Netherlands.
The study appears online in the journal Atmospheric Environment.
"The scent molecules produced by flowers in a less polluted environment, such as in the 1800s, could travel for roughly 1,000 to 1,200 meters; but in today's polluted environment downwind of major cites, they may travel only 200 to 300 meters," said Jose D. Fuentes, a professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia and a co-author of the study. "This makes it increasingly difficult for pollinators to locate the flowers."
The result, potentially, is a vicious cycle where pollinators struggle to find enough food to sustain their populations, and populations of flowering plants, in turn, do not get pollinated sufficiently to proliferate and diversify.
Other studies, as well as the actual experience of farmers, have shown that populations of bees, particularly bumblebees, and butterflies have declined greatly in recent years. Fuentes and his team of U.Va. researchers, including Quinn McFrederick and James Kathilankal, believe that air pollution, especially during the peak period of summer, may be a factor.
To investigate this, they created a mathematical model of how the scents of flowers travel with the wind. The scent molecules produced by flowers are very volatile and they quickly bond with pollutants such as ozone, hydroxyl and nitrate radicals, which destroy the aromas they produce. This means that instead of traveling intact for long distances with the wind, the scents are chemically altered and the flowers, in a sense, no longer smell like flowers. This forces pollinators to search farther and longer and possibly to rely more on sight and less on smell.
The scientists calculated scent levels and distances that scents can travel under different conditions, from relatively unpolluted pre-industrial revolution levels, to the conditions now existing in rural areas downwind from large cities.
"It quickly became apparent that air pollution destroys the aroma of flowers, by as much as 90 percent from periods before automobiles and heavy industry," Fuentes said. "And the more air pollution there is in a region, the greater the destruction of the flower scents."
The National Science Foundation funded the investigation.
I just think liberals should stop driving. They are the ones who are so guilt-ridden, but they only whine and complain. It would fix this (faux) problem, becz they’d stay HOME — the flowers could bloom, the bees could buzz — could be heaven on earth. And then, of course, the liberals would not be out and about, WHINING, and we be happier too.
Wait a minute! I bet WE TAXPAYERS funded this amazing discovery!! Oh, double-whammy.
I think they should stop trying to pass their hysterical phobias off as thought.
Brilliant comment. Do you mind if I borrow this?
Perhaps this evidence could be used to force a reversal of the rules requiring oxygenation additives. After all, since they've been put in things have gotten a lot worse.
It is true the bees are vanishing. The Book of Revelation warns of a famine before the apocalypse which spares grapes and olives. Interestingly, grapes and olives do not require bees for pollination. Something to think about.
What the heck, my copyright has run out, so use it.
;O)
Amazingly, my personal studies show that the most verbal enviromental whack-jobs quickly bond with junk science to create something that no longer smells like scientific evidence.
Lesson for the day:
Remember, if it looks like dog——, smells like dog——, and tastes like dog-—; it must be dog——.
“Interestingly, grapes and olives do not require bees for pollination. Something to think about.”
Lots of plants are self-pollinating; apricots, European plums, blackberries, avocado, some varieties of heirloom tomatoes and peppers, etc.
(Not that God doesn’t have the final say, LOL!)
Australia doesn’t seem to be having this problem of colony collapse and dying bees. So it not likely that the Book of Revelation would apply just to North America.
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