Lights from buildings high in the sky can disorient birds. Noise from boats and oil exploration deep in the ocean can deafen whales.
And animals that depend on their noses? Pollution from smokestacks and tailpipes is hampering their sense of smell, with potentially dire consequences for the fruits and vegetables we eat that depend on pollinators.
In a study published Thursday, a team of researchers has shown how air pollution is altering the sweet smell of flowers and disrupting the cues nocturnal pollinators use to find nectar.
The research, published in the journal Science, is the first to show how pollution is causing a chemical chain reaction that degrades the scents upon which nocturnal insects depend to find flowers. While light and noise pollution are well-understood, the work illustrates the little-known but detrimental effect humans are having on wildlife that rely on scent to make sense of the world.
“There’s increasing interest in sensory pollution,” said Jeff Riffell, a University of Washington biologist who co-wrote the study. Air pollution, he added, “could be having widespread effects on a variety of different ecological processes.”
Odor brings order to much of the animal kingdom. Dogs greet each other with their snouts. Salmon return to the streams of their birth to spawn by following their scent. Ants and other insects navigate by leaving trails of pheromones on the ground.
Trapped in our own sensory bubble, people are largely unaware of all of this. “We are visual and auditory animals,” Riffell said.
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Lights from buildings high in the sky can disorient birds. Noise from boats and oil exploration deep in the ocean can deafen whales.
And animals that depend on their noses? Pollution from smokestacks and tailpipes is hampering their sense of smell, with potentially dire consequences for the fruits and vegetables we eat that depend on pollinators.
In a study published Thursday, a team of researchers has shown how air pollution is altering the sweet smell of flowers and disrupting the cues nocturnal pollinators use to find nectar.
The research, published in the journal Science, is the first to show how pollution is causing a chemical chain reaction that degrades the scents upon which nocturnal insects depend to find flowers. While light and noise pollution are well-understood, the work illustrates the little-known but detrimental effect humans are having on wildlife that rely on scent to make sense of the world.
“There’s increasing interest in sensory pollution,” said Jeff Riffell, a University of Washington biologist who co-wrote the study. Air pollution, he added, “could be having widespread effects on a variety of different ecological processes.”
Odor brings order to much of the animal kingdom. Dogs greet each other with their snouts. Salmon return to the streams of their birth to spawn by following their scent. Ants and other insects navigate by leaving trails of pheromones on the ground.
Trapped in our own sensory bubble, people are largely unaware of all of this. “We are visual and auditory animals,” Riffell said.
**Read more:** [**https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/02/08/air-pollution-pollinator-moths/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/02/08/air-pollution-pollinator-moths/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)