Air pollution: Diesel fumes confuse butterflies and bees and leaving them unable to sniff out plants
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech
Air pollution significantly impairs pollination because butterflies and bees are unable to sniff out plants that depend on them, new research suggests. This is the warning of University of Reading-led experts who assessed the impact of pollutants found in diesel fumes and ozone on the pollination of black mustard. With insect pollination being vital to agriculture - delivering hundreds of billion pounds worth of economic value each year - the findings have broad impacts. Pollination supports 8 per cent of the total value of agricultural food production and is vital to 70 per cent of crop species, including apples, cocoa and strawberries. It is also essential to the lifecycles of a assod species of wildflowers. Diesel fumes are not the only challenges facing pollinating insects, the number of which have been experiencing ongoing declines.