10-07-2025, 05:12 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-07-2025, 05:33 PM by Man From Ironbark.)
The stuff about how our planet works is all important not only to myself but to all future generations.
ie: A preliminary study has found several Australian orchid species have suffered a 60 per cent decline in pollen movement and fertilisation since 1925.
The biggest drop in pollination started in the 1970s, with researchers suggesting rising temperatures and land clearing may be contributing factors.
About 90 per cent of flowering plants rely on pollination to reproduce.
And a growing body of research in the US and western Europe indicates both regions are suffering a pollination crisis that could threaten agricultural productivity.
Study co-author and ecologist Joanne Bennett, from Charles Sturt University, said the biggest decline in pollination started in the 1970s.
She said the most significant declines were in "natural" areas not disturbed by landclearing or development.
"It seems like [the cause] has to be something big that is overriding everything," Dr Bennett said.
"Historical land-use change caused orchid pollination to decline, but now the main driver is climate, and that's what's changed."
Australia, on average, has warmed 1.51 degrees Celsius since national temperature records began in 1910, with an intensification of the trend beginning in the 1950s.
Dr Bennett said she was not sure if orchids could be as successful in the future.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025.../105835594
ie: A preliminary study has found several Australian orchid species have suffered a 60 per cent decline in pollen movement and fertilisation since 1925.
The biggest drop in pollination started in the 1970s, with researchers suggesting rising temperatures and land clearing may be contributing factors.
About 90 per cent of flowering plants rely on pollination to reproduce.
And a growing body of research in the US and western Europe indicates both regions are suffering a pollination crisis that could threaten agricultural productivity.
Study co-author and ecologist Joanne Bennett, from Charles Sturt University, said the biggest decline in pollination started in the 1970s.
She said the most significant declines were in "natural" areas not disturbed by landclearing or development.
"It seems like [the cause] has to be something big that is overriding everything," Dr Bennett said.
"Historical land-use change caused orchid pollination to decline, but now the main driver is climate, and that's what's changed."
Australia, on average, has warmed 1.51 degrees Celsius since national temperature records began in 1910, with an intensification of the trend beginning in the 1950s.
Dr Bennett said she was not sure if orchids could be as successful in the future.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025.../105835594