Why flowers have lost their scent...

[Blarch]

Pollution is dulling the scent of flowers and impeding some of the most basic processes of nature, disrupting insect life and imperilling food supplies, a new study suggests.


The potentially hugely significant research – funded by the blue-chip US National Science Foundation – has found that gases mainly formed from the emissions of car exhausts prevent flowers from attracting bees and other insects in order to pollinate them. And the scientists who have conducted the study fear that insects' ability to repel enemies and attract mates may also be impeded.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/why-flowers-have-lost-their-scent-812168.html

Those bastards.

Discuss:

[laylah]

1. ..

:cry: This is so very sad. I am not a "technical" kinda gal but I do love my flowers, and am familiar with many.

[mac2]

2. When bees and birds die in our back yards we are in

peril ourselves. Thanks for the reminder. Celebrate Earth Day.

[Uncle Joe]

6. Yes, if the bees die out, we will have mass starvation

on a scale never seen before as so many of our crops require them for pollination.

[mike_c]

about 30 percent of human crops are insect pollinated....

Not all by bees, but bees certainly do a lot of that work. Still, the majority of human staple crops are wind pollinated.

I don't mean to suggest that loss of the ecosystem services provided by bees would not be catastrophic, but only want to correct the general perception that a majority of crops are bee pollinated. Most, in fact, are wind pollinated.

[Uncle Joe]

14. Considering the starvation already in effect from food shortages, a 30% drop is a

pretty big chunk.

I would imagine there would be a domino effect as well even on the growth of wind pollinated crops from the loss of human caloric energy, if nothing else, should bees become extinct. Also as the world's food choice sources narrow by almost a third, human subsistence would face increasing risk from crop disease, ie; the potato blight on a global scale.

[Botany]

3. ah .... .Dogwoods have no smell

:rofl:

[vanlassie]

15. those are roses nt

[searchingforlight]

4. I live in a very rural area far from pollutants.

A apiarist down the road keeps about 150 hives and about 50 on our property. He had a 70 percent die off this winter. Scary.

[supernova]

5. Haven't roses been bred not to smell?

Didn't I read that recently, or am I making that up?

Horticulturists have been going after other attributes in roses, making them hardier, more disease and weather resistant, but leaving the fragrance out of it.

[Greyhound]

7. Tons of info here.

http://www.huntingtonbotanical.org/Rose/about.htm

If you get to LA you've got to see these gardens (near Pasadena in San Marino). They have vines there that are well over a hundred years old and the smell is amazing. One of the things our guide said was that many contemporary strains are bred exclusively for color/appearance and have little or no smell at all.

[JDPriestly]

13. The Barbra Streisand smells pretty good. No joke.

[RainDog]

8. Flowers have not lost their scent

pollution in the air reduces the travel distance of the scent of flowers. Bees have to be closer to the flowers to find them.

flowers have the same scent. it's just that other crap in the air is drowning out their smell.

[Canuckistanian]

11. I think that's more plausible

From my experience, Lilacs and Milkweeds certainly haven't lost their scents over the years.

I also suspect that cross-pollination with man-made varieties may also be a culprit here. We don't value scent as much as appearance in our garden flowers, and that may have short-circuited the natural process of producing lovely smells for the bees.

[RainDog]

12. that's what the study said. the headline wasn't quite clear

but the study says molecules of air pollution are inhibiting the travel of flower scent molecules.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cali]

10. wow. that's hugely significant. and bad news.

[ensho]

16. kicking to save life on earty

arrest the neo cons