Rising Ozone Pollution is a Silent Threat to Pollination and Plants’ Health [Research]

New research revealed that rising levels of zone pollution could interrupt the pollination process of plants and animals. The excess ground-level zero ozone is seen to damage the flowering plants’ patterns, flower blooms, and plant foliage.

According to the US Forest Service (USDA), it explained that pollination is an important process for plants and animals. It transfers pollen grains from the flower’s male anther to the female stigma.

• The Forest Service added that flowers look a vectors as essential parts to move pollen.
• Vectors can refer to insects, butterflies, wind to water, birds, or animals going to the flowers.
• Ultimately, pollinators play a key role when a transfer occurs in the process.
• The USDA added that there are two plant types of pollination: Self-pollinating and cross-pollinating. Self-pollinating means plants are capable of fertilizing themselves. At the same time, cross-pollination requires plants to be a vector in the process.

The research’s lead author Evgenios Agathokleous explained that ozone is a silent threat to pollination and pollinators, and the ozone impacts are missed.

 Agathokleous added that there were concerns about the direct effects of agrochemicals on pollinators. The lead author is also an ecologist at Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology.

The research is available to read in Cell Press Journal and ScienceDaily.

Ozone Gas

The research emphasized that ozone gas helps protect the Earth and humans from the sun’s rays.

United Nations Environment Programme showed that the ozone layer is 15 to 35 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. The invisible shield protects humans and Earth from ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which can damage skin and health risks to humans and animals.

On the other hand, the researcher highlighted that ozone pollution could impact pollination and pollinators. The study mentioned that rising tropospheric ozone levels because of the warming climate.

Moreover, the lead researcher explained that ozone pollution affects the flowering duration and amount of pollen. Also, the impact on the color of flowers is associated with the disruption of visual signals to pollinators.

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Agathokleous added that ozone pollution could threaten plant leaves. It damages the leaves, and injuries are noticeable from the discoloring leaves and diverse colors or shapes.

Ozone pollution effect could severely impact plants and their qualities, decreasing the n nutrients essential to insects. What happens is that ozone pollution can degrade the plants’ quality, the research noted.

Protecting pollinations

Ozone pollution, as the silent threat, can disrupt the chemical signatures from the difficulty of plants in photosynthesizing and struggling to grow. The significant impact on plant communication could disrupt pollinators’ signals, failing to recognize host plants.

Ultimately, the U.S Forest Service emphasized the importance of pollination and said humans could not live without it. The reasons are the environmental benefits of pollination: maintaining the propagation of seeds, genetic diversity, clean air, and preventing erosion through roots.

The benefits of pollination in supporting biodiversity can provide livelihoods for humans.

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