We've updated our Privacy Policy to make it clearer how we use your personal data. We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. You can read our Cookie Policy here.

Advertisement

Air Pollution Is Preventing Bees From Finding Flowers

A bee on a purple flower.
Credit: Jenna Lee / Unsplash.
Listen with
Speechify
0:00
Register for free to listen to this article
Thank you. Listen to this article using the player above.

Want to listen to this article for FREE?

Complete the form below to unlock access to ALL audio articles.

Read time: 2 minutes

Summary

Ground-level ozone alters floral odors, reducing honeybees' ability to recognize scents by up to 90%, impacting pollination and potentially affecting food production and biodiversity.

Key takeaways

    • Ground-level ozone, formed from vehicle emissions and vegetation chemicals in sunlight, alters floral odors, reducing honeybees' ability to recognize scents by up to 90%, impacting pollination.
    • Ozone-induced changes in floral scents can negatively affect wildflower abundance and crop yields, posing risks to food production and biodiversity.
      • The study, using a wind tunnel, demonstrated how honeybees struggled to recognize ozone-modified odors, highlighting potential implications for insect behaviors beyond pollination.

      The ozone and honeybees

      A research team comprising the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and the Universities of Birmingham, Reading, Surrey and Southern Queensland, found that ozone substantially changes the size and scent of floral odour plumes given off by flowers, and that it reduced honeybees' ability to recognise odours by up to 90% from just a few metres away.


      Ground-level ozone typically forms when nitrogen oxide emissions from vehicles and industrial processes react with volatile organic compounds emitted from vegetation in the presence of sunlight.

      Our study provides robust evidence that the changes due to ground-level ozone on floral scent cause pollinators to struggle to carry out their crucial role in the natural environment also with implications for food security.

      Professor Christian Pfrang, University of Birmingham

      Professor Christian Pfrang from the University of Birmingham who collaborated on the research said: “Our study provides robust evidence that the changes due to ground-level ozone on floral scent cause pollinators to struggle to carry out their crucial role in the natural environment also with implications for food security.”

      Want more breaking news?

      Subscribe to Technology Networks’ daily newsletter, delivering breaking science news straight to your inbox every day.

      Subscribe for FREE

      The findings suggest that ozone is likely to be having a negative impact on wildflower abundance and crop yields. International research has already established that ozone has a negative impact on food production because it damages plant growth.


      Dr Ben Langford, an atmospheric scientist at UKCEH who led the study said: "Some 75% of our food crops and nearly 90% of wild flowering plants depend, to some extent, upon animal pollination, particularly by insects. Therefore, understanding what adversely affects pollination, and how, is essential to helping us preserve the critical services that we rely upon for production of food, textiles, biofuels and medicines, for example."


      The researchers used a 30-m wind tunnel at Surrey University to monitor how the size and shape of odour plumes changed in the presence of ozone. As well as decreasing the size of the odour plume the scientists found that the scent of the plume changed substantially as certain compounds reacted away much faster than others.


      Honeybees were trained to recognise the same odour blend and then exposed to the new, ozone-modified odours. Pollinating insects use floral odours to find flowers and learn to associate their unique blend of chemical compounds with the amount of nectar it provides, allowing them to locate the same species in the future.


      The research showed that towards the centre of plumes, 52% of honeybees recognised an odour at 6 metres, decreasing to 38% at 12 m. At the edge of plumes, which degraded more quickly, 32% of honeybees recognised a flower from 6 m away and just a tenth of the insects from 12 m away.


      The study indicates that ozone could also affect insects’ other odour-controlled behaviours such as attracting a mate.


      The research was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation, and was published in the journal Environmental Pollution.


      Professor Christian Pfrang concluded: "We know that air pollution has a detrimental effect on human health, biodiversity and the climate, but now we can see how it prevents bees and other pollinating insects from carrying out their key job. This should act as a wake-up call to take action on air pollution and help safeguard food production and biodiversity for the future."


      Reference: Langford B, Ryalls JMW, Mullinger NJ, et al. Mapping the effects of ozone pollution and mixing on floral odour plumes and their impact on plant-pollinator interactions. Environmental Pollution. 2023;336:122336. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122336


      This article has been republished from the following materials. Article summaries may have been generated by fact-checked AI models. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.