随着环境污染加剧，空气中阻挡花香传播的气体成分越来越多，一些地方的蜜蜂因为找不到花朵采蜜而成群死亡。
《华盛顿邮报》5月5日报道，蜜蜂视力较差，主要靠嗅觉寻找蜜源，但花香气味分子会被空气中臭氧等气体成分破坏。
美国弗吉尼亚大学环境科学教授若泽·D·德拉富恩特与学生研究发现，19世纪时，花香平均能传播到千米以外，而如今在一些大城市周边，花香最多只能传播到两三百米外。
由于花香渐弱，蜜蜂找不到足够的蜜源大批死亡，各种作物也因没有蜜蜂授粉不能够结出果实、生息繁衍，反过来又加剧了蜜蜂的“饥荒”，形成恶性循环。“这就是全部问题所在，”德拉富恩特说。
这项研究成果发表在3月号的爱思唯尔期刊《大气环境》（Atmospheric Environment）上。（来源：新华网）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
（Atmospheric Environment），Volume 42, Issue 10, March 2008, Pages 2336-2348，Quinn S. McFrederick，Jose D. Fuentes
Air pollution modifies floral scent trails
Quinn S. McFredericka, James C. Kathilankala and Jose D. Fuentes, a,
aDepartment of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, 291 McCormick Road, Clark Hall, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA
Abstract
Floral hydrocarbons provide essential signals to attract pollinators. As soon as they are emitted to the atmosphere, however, hydrocarbons are destroyed by chemical reactions involving pollutants such as ozone. It is therefore likely that increased air pollution interferes with pollinator attracting hydrocarbon signals. To test this hypothesis, a Lagrangian diffusion model was used to determine the position of air parcels away from hydrocarbon sources and to estimate the rate of chemical destruction of hydrocarbons as air parcels moved across the landscape. The hydrocarbon compounds linalool, β-myrcene, and β-ocimene were chosen because they are known to be common scents released from flowers. The suppressed ambient abundances of volatile organic compounds were determined in response to increased regional levels of ozone, hydroxyl, and nitrate radicals. The results indicate that the documented increases in air pollution concentrations, from pre-industrial to present times, can lead to reductions in volatile compound concentrations insects detect as they pollinate flowers. For highly reactive volatiles the maximum downwind distance from the source at which pollinators can detect the scents may have changed from kilometers during pre-industrial times to <200 m during the more polluted conditions of present times. The increased destruction of floral signals in polluted air masses may have important implications for both pollinators and signaling plants. When patches of flowers are further apart than the visual range of pollinators, such as in fragmented landscapes, the loss of scent signals may mean that pollinators spend more time searching for patches and less time foraging. This decrease in pollinator foraging efficiency will simultaneously decrease the pollinator's reproductive output and the amount of pollen flow in flowering plants.
