Air pollution interferes with the ability of bees and other insects to follow the scent of flowers to their source, undermining the essential process of pollination, a study by three University of Virginia researchers suggests.
Environmental sciences professor Jose Fuentes — working with graduate students Quinn McFrederick and James Kathilankal — used a mathematical model to determine how flowers’ scents travel with the wind and how quickly pollutants can destroy them. They described their results in the March issue of the journal Atmospheric Environment.
Nose dive: In the prevailing conditions before the 1800s, the researchers calculated that a flower’s scent could travel 3,280 feet to 4,000 feet, Fuentes said. Today, that scent might travel 650 to 1,000 feet in highly polluted areas such as Los Angeles or Houston.
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Page compiled from Tribune news services
