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https://theconversation.com/biodiversity-depends-on-pollinators-a-first-estimate-of-how-many-plants-rely-on-animals-166908>
"The honeybee may be the best-known pollinator of plants, but there are
thousands of pollinator species, including other bees, butterflies, moths,
beetles, flies and even some birds and mammals. Pollinators help to produce
food – their contribution to crops is worth billions of dollars. But they are
also essential for the reproduction of plants generally, and thus for
biodiversity.
This is why it’s a worry that certain pollinator species have fallen in
numbers, and in some places the diversity of pollinators has decreased. These
declines are due to the combined effects of pesticide use, destruction and
degradation of habitats, invasive species, pollinator diseases and climate
change.
More and more pollinators are becoming threatened with extinction. For example,
the Loveridge’s sunbird is endangered by damage caused by people to the forest
where it lives in Tanzania. Some species have already gone extinct, for example
Libythea cinyras, a swallowtail butterfly from Mauritius. This species has
died out entirely, probably due to the forests in which it lived being chopped
down to make sugarcane plantations.
These declines motivated us to find out how important pollinators are for wild
plants. Our paper provides the first global estimate of how many plant species
mostly or completely rely on animal pollinators to make seeds and thus to
reproduce. We found that it’s about 175,000 plant species – half of all
flowering plants. This means declines in pollinators could cause major
disruptions in natural ecosystems, including loss of biodiversity."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
