[Pollinator] AGRICULTURE: Air pollution impedes pollination

[Ladadams at aol.com]

 Thanks to Hilda Diaz-Soltero for forwarding this.

AGRICULTURE: Air pollution impedes pollination  (Monday, May 5,   
2008)                                                             
Air pollution hampers pollinating insects' sense of smell,        
preventing them from following flowers to their source and        
undermining the pollinating process, according to a study by      
researchers at the University of Virginia.                        
The study is part of a wider effort to determine the causes of    
drops in honeybee and bumblebee populations that have created a   
pollination crisis affecting a variety of crops worldwide. Since  
2006, honeybee colonies in the U.S. have been decimated by an     
unexplained phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder (        
Greenwire, April 1).                                              
Scientists were already aware that scent-bearing molecules        
released by flowers can be destroyed by contact with ozone and    
other pollutants, but the study indicates pollutants hamper the   
spread more than previously believed.                             
The researchers' mathematical models calculated a flower's scent  
could travel between 3,280 feet and 4,000 in pre-Industrial       
Revolution air conditions. Today, that scent can only be expected 
to travel between 650 feet and 1,000 feet in heavily polluted     
urban areas.                                                      
"That's where we basically have all the problems," said study     
author Jose D. Fuentes. "The impacts of pollution on pollinator   
activity are pronounced during the summer months."                
Most bees have poor eyesight and rely heavily on the scents to    
find the source of the flower, the study wrote (Juliet Eilperin,  
Washington Post, May 5). -- PR     






Laurie Davies Adams
Executive Director
Pollinator Partnership
425 Washington Street, 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111
415 362 1137 (p)
415 362 3070 (f)
LDA at pollinator.org
www.pollinator.org
www.nappc.org

National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2008. Create or attend an event in 
your state. Visit www.pollinator.org National Pollinator Week for complete 
details.

Join the Pollinator Partnership working to protect agriculture and ecosystems 
- visit www.pollinator.org



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