Pollution stealing flowers' scent
London, Apr 12 (UNI) Next time you buy a bouquet of flowers and it does not smell that great, blame it on pollution.
A new University of Virginia study said air pollution from power plants and cars was destroying the fragrance of flowers and hence inhibiting the ability of pollinating insects like bees and butterflies to follow scent trails to their source.
Co-author of the study, Prof Jose Fuentes of the university said, ''It quickly became apparent after experiments that air pollution destroys the aroma of flowers, by as much as 90 per cent from periods before automobiles and heavy industry. And the more air pollution there is in a region, the greater the destruction of the flower scents.'' ''By this token, towns and cities ought to be the worst possible places for bees,'' Stuart Roberts of the Centre for Agri-Environmental Research, Reading University, said.
''The
scent
molecules
produced
by
flowers
in
a
less
polluted
environment,
such
as
in
the
1800s,
could
travel
for
roughly
1,000
to
1,200
meters;
but
in
today's
polluted
environment
downwind
of
major
cites,
they
may
travel
only
200
to
300
meters,''
Prof
Fuentes
said,
adding,
''This
makes
it
increasingly
difficult
for
pollinators
to
locate
the
flowers.''
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