|  | Public Health Safety | Environmental Health

The Effects of Pollinator Shortage

Pollinators are central to the plant reproductive process. The vast majority of all flowering plants are reliant on pollinators. There are growing fears that the global pollinator population is declining at alarming rates. A pollinator shortage will have a significant knock-on effect on agriculture, particularly the bearing of fruits and flowers, both for domesticated and wild species.

  1. Pollinators

    • Pollinators are essentially tiny insects and animals that transfer pollen grains from one flower to the next. The process by which pollen grains from a male flower are passed onto a female flower is called fertilization, and is necessary for flower and fruit production. Close to 90 foods consumed in North America such as strawberries, almonds, apples and even chocolate originate from pollinated plants. Some common pollinators include bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, bats, and ants.

    Causes of Pollinator Shortage

    • There are several factors contributing to the pollinator shortage, yet the key issue is environment degradation. The clearing of forest area not only destroys plant species but also removes the habitat and food source of countless insect and animal pollinators. The amount of pesticide used in commercial farming also adds to the decline in pollinator population. Other factors include parasites and insect and animal diseases.

    Effect on Food

    • The major concern regarding pollinator shortage is the effect on global food supply and thus food security. Approximately 75 percent of fruit and vegetable crops grown globally depend on pollinators to achieve plant fertilization. This service provided free by pollinators is worth an estimated $200 billion dollars. Although this effect is not being felt immediately, researchers suggest that future crop yields will be affected as more land is being devoted to growing pollinator-reliant crops.

    Economic Effect

    • The resultant reduction in crop yield will pose significant economic problems, especially for small-scale farmers in developing countries without access to agro-technologies such as plant engineering. Also, millions of research dollars are being spent annually towards analyzing and preventing pollinator decline. For example, heavy investments are being made into the investigation of Colony Collapse Disorder, which is reported among bees. In the United States alone, honey bee pollination is said to contribute $14.6 billion dollars to the food crop industry.

Environmental Health - Related Articles