Half of flowering plants depend on pollinators


Image: Pixabay

A study led by researchers at the University of Stellenbosch, in South Africa, indicated that half of flowering plants, around 1,750,000 species, depend on pollinators to survive. The main author, James Rodger, states that this is the first study that presents a global estimate of the importance of pollinators for plants in natural ecosystems, indicates Revista Vida Rural, from Portugal.

“Recent studies show that many pollinator species have declined in number, with some even becoming extinct. Our finding that a large number of wild plant species depend on pollinators shows that declines in pollinators can cause major disruptions to natural ecosystems,” warns the study’s lead author.

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Joanne Bennet, co-author from the University of Canberra, says another perplexing factor is the positive feedback loop that develops if pollinator-dependent plants decline or go extinct: “If self-fertile plants come to dominate the landscape, then even more pollinators will be negatively affected, because self-fertile plants tend to produce less nectar and pollen.”

In this context, data on this situation existed, but they were spread across hundreds of works, each focused on pollination experiments on different plant species. “To solve this problem, the research team developed a database that included data from 1,528 separate experiments, representing 1,392 plant populations and 1,174 species from 143 plant families and every continent except Antarctica,” concludes the Magazine.

By: Leonardo Gottems | agrolink

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