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How to Reduce the Cost of Renewables?

How do we reduce the cost of renewable energy? Research from the German Institute of Economic Research, commonly known as DWI, evaluated how regulations/policy (as a support system) and risks in financial investments effect the transition to forms of renewable energy like wind powered plants and photovoltaic systems in Germany. In 2014, Germany mandated the use of renewable energies as their main energy instead of optional as it began in 2012. This ruling forced energy companies to invest in renewables. From this, the authors wanted to know the cost associated in these transactions. In their conclusion, they found that companies utilized hedging to cover their financial cost. Hedging offsets the potential losses or gain incurred by the company’s investment. The authors also found that support programs like green certification, market premiums decrease the ability for the company to hedge their investments. As a result, the consumers would absorb the cost of the risk instead of the hedge fund.

Similar to Germany, other European countries adapted renewables as their main electrical source. However, the investment cost varies between the regions in Europe.  The projects in southern and eastern Europe have higher financing than projects in western in northern Europe. This is due to the different funding systems that support the project: a feed-in tariff system, sliding market system, green certificates, and fixed market premiums.

A feed-in tariff system allows developers a fixed tariff on electricity. In this system, the developers bear the risks if the project fails, but they do not have to any other tariffs related to risks, only the fixed tariff.

The sliding market premium  offers premiums to the plant operators. Compared to the feed in tariff system, these fees vary in amount. This systems as to incentive forecasting profits and risk before the project begins. The forecasting can aid the design of the wind power plant and photovoltaic system. Italy, Finland, and the Netherlands adopted this method.

Green certificates and fixed market premiums allow developers to sell electricity at market value. So far, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Poland, Belgium, and Romania used this system. They have some of the highest financing cost.

Although green certificate program seems to better idea, this method impacts the ability to hedge, which negative impacts the consumers due to higher cost for electricity. This report provides incite on the ways we can make renewable energy like wind power plants affordable for the masses. Recently, the cost  renewable technologies have decreased. If there more affordable investment options, this may ease the energy transition.

 

Source: May, N, Jurgens, I, Neuhoff, K. Renewable energy policy: risk hedging is taking center stage.  2017.. DIW Economic Bulletin 29:40.

 

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Climate Change Increases Vulnerability for Millions who Rely on Grazing Lands

Livestock Grazing on Public Land
Credit: flickr

In February 2018, researchers at the University of Minnesota published a study in Nature Climate Change showing how precipitation variability has increased significantly on 49% of the world’s grazing lands. This variation in precipitation can have detrimental effects not only on the environment as a whole but also on the livelihoods of those who rely on livestock that graze on natural vegetation for food security.

Using climate data from 1901 to 2014, the researchers studied precipitation variability trends and concluded that grazing lands experienced an overall increase in fluctuation, both within and between the years. They also related global satellite measures of vegetation greenness to climate factors to reveal that variation in precipitation is a significant controlling factor of global vegetation productivity. Not only this but in their observations, researchers found that areas with high variation of precipitation support lower livestock densities than less-variable regions.

Map of changes in between-year precipitation variability
This map shows the changes in between-year variability. Of the total land area considered pasture in this analysis, 20% did not experience significant changes (in gray), while 31% experienced significant decreases, and 49% experienced significant increases in precipitation variability.
Credit: Nature Climate Change

With this information researchers were able to assess the risks to places where livestock grazing is important to local food security by using global data sets for percent pasture area and market influence to “define areas in which livestock grazing may play a more or less important role in local food availability or the economy.” These findings exhibit how grazing is extremely vulnerable to the potential effects of climate change, which may put the millions of people dependent on livestock for food security at risk.

The researchers concluded that changes in precipitation variability may cause a change in the composition of certain ecosystems and may also threaten the maintenance or expansion of livestock production. However, the impacts of climate change on livestock grazing will not only depend on precipitation variation but also on region, long-term precipitation trends, changes in the timing of snowmelt, the magnitude of precipitation events, and the changes in seasons. With global grazing lands experiencing 25% more year-to-year variability in precipitation than the average global surface land area, the impacts of climate change on these regions could be detrimental to both the livelihoods of humans and the environment overall.

Lindsey L. Sloat, James S. Gerber, Leah H. Samberg, William K. Smith, Mario Herrero, Laerte G. Ferreira, Cécile M. Godde, Paul C. West. Increasing importance of precipitation variability on global livestock grazing lands. Nature Climate Change, 2018; DOI: 10.1038/s41558-018-0081-5

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Turning Food Waste into Usable Energy

A recent study discovers the potential and reality of transforming waste fruits and vegetables into usable electricity for citizens in Indonesia. In an effort to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels for energy and make best use of the waste generated by a population, researchers have created a system that takes in leftover food, creates biogas, and produces electricity as a final product. This system is much more sustainable than processing food waste in a landfill and releases roughly half of the emissions. In addition, the creation of biogas for electricity has a smaller processing cost than that of a landfill and the owner of the biogas system can earn a profit by selling the electricity made.

A diagram explaining how the process works. (Ariyanto et all., 2017)

Biogas is a form of biofuel that is created via anaerobic digestion when bacteria breaks down organic matter and releases gases such as methane and carbon dioxide. The methane produced can then be turned into gas for your home or electricity.

Researchers used organic waste from one of Indonesia’s largest markets, evaluated it, and conducted an experiment to determine how they would create a pilot biogas system for the local government and its partners. During the experimental period, mango was used in conjunction with cattle dung and water to determine the correct amount of solids and liquids in the biogas digester. The amount of waste produced by the market was analyzed to find an appropriate amount that the biogas plant should be built for. The market varied from producing 4 tons to 20 tons of food waste per day depending on seasonal factors. Therefore, researchers decided to build the system to digest 4 tons per day.

The plant generated 733 kWh of electricity per day, which is slightly smaller than the amount a typical U.S. home uses per month. Once the gas is produced and electricity made, some residue remains in the digester. This residue can be used as a fertilizer or as a form of irrigation, such as in the study where the leftover liquid was used on nearby farms to irrigate fields.

Making the most of what we have is one way that society can curb the effects of climate change and limit our use of raw natural resources.

 

Source: Ariyanto T., et al. 2017. UTILIZATION OF FRUIT WASTE AS BIOGAS PLANT FEED AND ITS SUPERIORITY COMPARED TO LANDFILL. International Journal Of Technology 8: 1385-1392

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Ketamine for Dopamine: Club Drug Cures Depression?

Recently ketamine has come under focus for its notable effects treating depression. A new study seeks to identify the pathway that allows its rapid anti-depressant effects. The horse tranquilizer turned party drug may have found another niche. The study was published in Nature, funded by the National Key R&D program of China.

As this research is in its introductory stages, researchers used a mouse model instead of human subjects. To simulate depression symptoms, rats were specifically bred as “Congenitally Learned Helpless” and mice as “Chronic Restraint Stress”. The animals were then injected with Ketamine and their behavior or electrophysiology was examined.

The findings revealed that the ketamine works by inhibiting the NMDAR pathway, nicknamed the “anti-reward center”. Burst evoking stimulation of this pathway has been show to lead to depressive behavior and anhedonia. By inhibiting the NMDAR, downstream reward centers have been shown to quickly elevate mood and produce rapid acting anti-depressant effects.

This research does not address the question of what the long-term effects of ketamine are, and its utility may lie in helping to understand the pathways that regulate depressive mood rather than paving the way for ketamine prescriptions as an antidepressant, being that it has a significant potential for abuse (not to mention a sorted reputation).

Anti-depressants tend to focus on boosting serotonin and dopamine expression to elevate mood, but by understanding and manipulating the pathway that inhibits their expression, a more targeted and effective treatment can be administered. The discovery of the NMDAR antagonist and its rapid anti-depressant effects has been called the most important advance in psychiatry in the last century. We live in an age where clinical depression has become relatively commonplace, and the recently discovered effects of Ketamine as this critical antagonist cannot be ignored.

 

Yang Y, Cui Y, Sang K, Dong Y, Ni Z et. al. (2018) Ketamine blocks bursting in the lateral habenula to rapidly relieve depression. Nature 554: 317-22

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Are β-blockers Doing You More Harm Than Good?

Beta-blockers

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) includes a number of diseases where airflow to the lungs is blocked. Cardiovascular diseases are frequent occurrences in patients with COPD.  To manage medical conditions like high blood pressure and abnormal heart rhythm that are associated with cardiovascular diseases, medication called β-blockers are used. However, many physicians shy away from prescribing them due to uncertainty about potential effects of β-blockers on lung activity. This is especially true during episodes of acute COPD exacerbations (sudden worsening of symptoms). Contrary to these conceptions, studies show that β-blockers play a role in alleviating COPD exacerbations and reduce mortality rates.

The TONADO studies conducted by researchers at the Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Ingelheim in Germany conducted research to check lung function in COPD patients receiving bronchodilator (substance that dilate the air passages to the lungs, thus increasing airflow) treatments for a year. FEV1 or forced expiratory volume, a measure of the volume of air that is forced out in 1 second after taking a deep breath, was used to categorize the severity of COPD. Post experimentation, researchers considered data from patients receiving β-blockers to assess the potential effects of these medication on bronchodilator treatment. Researchers assessed these effects throughout the length of the study by analyzing lung function, dyspnea (difficulty breathing) and frequency of exacerbations in COPD patients.

In the study conducted on 5,163 patients, individuals who were on β-blockers showed lower occurrence of COPD with milder symptoms, and higher average FEV1 levels.

Exacerbations were also very low in the  β-blockers group at entry level. One shortcoming of β-blockers was the high occurrence of diseases related to the heart and blood vessels like stroke, heart attack, and cardiac arrhythmia. The improvement in dyspnea seen during bronchodilator treatment and lung function measurements were the same for both groups. Overall, analysis of the obtained data did not show vast negative effects of β-blocker treatment.

The reliability of data from this research is high due to the fact that it was collected over a span of 12 months. In addition, the study had a broad, global population of subjects due to the international nature of the trial. The presence of other additional diseases besides COPD was also taken into consideration during data collection and analysis. Putting all this information together, researchers concluded that their study provides valid information regarding the effects, or lack thereof,  of β-blockers in COPD patients.

In conclusion, the results support β-blocker use. The researchers agreed that the benefits of β-blocker outweigh their potential risks, especially for patients with heart disease, heart failure and hypertension. An analysis of 15 similar studies further supported the findings.

Reference: Maltais, F., et al. 2018. β-Blockers in COPD: A Cohort Study From the TONADO Research Program. Chest.

Link to article

Image: Flickr

 

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Staying Balanced: Sour Taste Buds Linked with the Ventricular System

In January 2018, a study published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science presented a surprising link between the sense of taste and the sense of balance. While trying to determine which genes are responsible for certain taste buds to ascertain sourness, scientists found the same gene at work in the inner ear.

Lemon slices
Lemon slice. Credit: GDJ; Creative Commons Clipart.

When you think “sour,” you might think about puckering at the juice of a slice of lemon, but scientists think about pH levels. Sourness is actually a measure of acidity, due to the fact that a substance is acidic if it contains lots of H+ ions (hydrogen atoms with a positive electrical charge), which is also a mark of low pH. There are different kinds of taste buds: some recognize sweetness, some recognize saltiness, etc. The taste buds that recognize the sour *tang* of Sour Patch Kids contain ion channels that allow H+ ions to flow into the taste bud cell and send a signal to the brain that says, “Wow! This is sour!”

To ascertain which gene or genes are responsible for expressing the proteins necessary for building the H+ ion channels in sour taste bud cells, researchers at the University of Southern California used a mouse model. They compared the transcriptome of mice with sour taste buds with the transcriptome of mice without them. The transcriptome is a collection of all the RNA in a particular cell, and is an indicator of proteins that are being generated and built by a cell. When 41 potential proteins were identified in the sour taste bud cells, but not found in the other taste bud cells, the scientists knew one of them must play a role in the mechanism for detecting sour tastes.

The researchers implanted the potential genes into human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-293) or the female egg cells of a frog model (Xenopus oocytes). Then, the kidney cells and egg cells were flooded with an acidic solution and observed for H+ ion currents. The researchers noticed that the gene Otopetrin1, abbreviated as Otop1, was the only gene to produce an ion channel that permitted H+ ions to pass through.

The gene Otop1 is part of the otopetrin gene family, which happens to be known for the development and function of the vestibular system. The connection is clear when mice with Otop1 mutations exhibited issues with spatial orientation and balance. They could not properly right themselves or swim. Furthermore, the mice with Otop1 mutations had weaker currents of H+ ions in the taste bud cells, which suggests that the mice were not able to fully taste sourness. The scientists at USC hypothesize that Otop1 regulates an optimal pH level in the inner ear during development.

“We never in a million years expected that the molecule that we were looking for in taste cells would also be found in the vestibular system,” senior researcher Emily Liman said. “This highlights the power of basic or fundamental research.”

The Otop1 gene also produces H+ ion channels in the heart, uterus, adrenal gland, mammary gland, and in fat tissue, although the role of H+ ion channels in these regions is not understood. Further research may uncover more intriguing and unanticipated connections within our genetic makeup.

Taste bud cells
Taste bud cells, magnified and artificially colored. The red portions denote cells that detect sour tastes, while the green portions mark cells that detect umami, sweet, or bitter tastes. Credit: Yu-Hsiang Tu and Emily Liman.

Sources:

Tu, Y.H., Cooper, A.J.,Teng, B., Chang, B.R., Artiga, D.J., Turner, H.N., Mulhall, E.M., Ye, W., Smith, A.D., & Liman, E.R. 2018. An evolutionarily conserved gene family encodes proton-selective ion channels. Science [published online] DOI: 10.1126/science.aao3264.

Gersema, E. 2018. Surprising discovery links sour taste to the inner ear’s ability to sense balance. USC Press Room. Retrieved Feb. 18 from http://pressroom.usc.edu/surprising-discovery-links-sour-taste-to-the-inner-ears-ability-to-sense-balance/.

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How to Solve the Water Crisis

Leaky Faucet
Source: Flickr

Water is essential to maintaining all life on earth, yet two billion people worldwide don’t have access to a clean or safe water. However, availability of fresh water may change as seen in an article published on the 9th of February, 2018 in Sciences Advances. This article, titled “Ultrafast selective transport of alkali metal ions in metal organic frameworks with subnanometer pores” details the findings of researchers at both Monash University and the University of Texas at Austin that offers a breakthrough solution to the water crisis.  They discovered that metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a material with the largest internal surface area of any known substance, can be used to capture and remove salt and metal ions from water.

Metal-organic frameworks are sponge-like crystals that can capture, store, are release chemical compounds. MOFs have a narrow distribution of pore size, making them useful in various separation technologies as well as for the storage of gases like hydrogen and carbon dioxide. MOFs have been used in gas purification and separation, as a catalyst (something that increases the rate of a chemical reaction), or as sensors.

The researchers discovered that MOFs can mimic the filtering function or ‘ion selectivity’ of organic cell membrane. They are able to remove salt from seawater and separate metal ions in a highly efficient and cost effective manner. The researchers estimate that MOFs can improve desalination capacity in water treatment processes by a factor of 2 to 3 in energy consumption. This means there is a more cost-effective, fast way to treat water and make it readily available for those who need it most.

Not only this, but MOFs are able to extract metals that are harmful to humans and otherwise difficult to remove from drinking water. For example, since lithium-ion batteries have become the most popular battery for mobile electronic devices like phones and tablets, they are in such high demand that unconventional methods may have to be developed to continue lithium production, such as extraction from water with metal-organic frameworks.

There are both economic and physical reasons a region could be effected by water scarcity, but the results are the same; humans without the basic necessities of life. It can be caused by lack of investment in technology and infrastructure to collect water from various sources, economic competition for water quantity and quality, or simply the irreversible depletion of drinkable groundwater. The increasing world population, expansion of irrigated agriculture, improving living standards, and changing consumption patterns will only make it more difficult to obtain clean and safe drinking water for all, so these findings published by researchers at Monash University and University of Texas at Austin bring big news to the table in terms of providing the essentials for life to humans worldwide.

Huacheng Zhang, Jue Hou, Yaoxin Hu, Peiyao Wang, Ranwen Ou, Lei Jiang, Jefferson Zhe Liu, Benny D. Freeman, Anita J. Hill and Huanting Wang. Ultrafast selective transport of alkali metal ions in metal organic frameworks with subnanometer pores. Sciences Advances, 2018; DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaq0066

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Data Sharing; How it Helped These Tropical Bears

Although you may never have heard of them before now, Helarctos malayamus better known as Sun bears (yes, believe it or not moon bears exist too),  are the smallest species of bear in the world.  These bears can be found in tropical forest habitats in Southeast Asia, but are sadly on the IUCN vulnerable species list.

Yet another animal attempting to survive in our growing anthropogenic world, the Sun Bear has seen a population loss of over 30% in the last few decades. This decrease is almost entirely in part to deforestation, and researchers at the university of South Carolina have good reason to believe these number aren’t slowing down anytime soon.  Using data captured from 1,463 non-baited camera traps spanning over 31 field sites all within Sun bear territory, the team found that there’s a direct correlation between tree cover and sun bear presence.  The bears were only seen in areas with over 20% cover (over a span of 6km^2 from the camera) and were 146% more likely to be found in areas with 80%+ tree cover then that of only 20%+.

Sleeping Sun Bear
A sun bear snoozes on a tree

A very interesting aspect of their study was the camera traps, which work by turning on and recording every time they sense movement in the area in front of them, weren’t specifically set up to find Sun bears. They were setup for a number of other studies being done on other species. However, the camera data was borrowed and used to collect population information on the Sun Bears which in regards to the other studies, was a byproduct. This reuse of data led to the findings of strong evidence in support of diminishing Sun Bear numbers, and has the potential to do it time and time again with completely different species.

The future implications on this are endless. If studies using camera traps to interpret information on one specific species, were to share they’re data across the world to other researchers attempting to learn something about completely different species found in that area. Then potentially huge knowledge gaps on all types of animals could be filled, and this doesn’t even include the economic proficiency that would come of it.

The overall takeaway is that if so much can be learned about our small bear friends in Southeast Asia using recycled camera footage (and knowledge from experts), who knows what else could be learned about other animals in that footage or other camera trap studies.

Source:

Mousseau T., 2017. Projecting range-wide sun bear population trends using tree cover and camera-trap bycatch data. PLoS One NO 12(9): 56-68.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Our Earth? Headed to Wall-e Trash Planet? More Likely Then You Think

Space Debris
Diagram of where debris could be around the Earth.

The recent space launch of a Tesla roadster aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket (video below) has once again raised the conversation level surrounding the issue of orbital debris. Orbital debris is “any human-made object in orbit about the Earth that no longer serves any useful purpose.” In December of 2017, J. –C. Lious, PhD, Chief Scientist for Orbital Debris, gave a presentation about the current state of orbital debris and its policies. In the 1990s, NASA was the first organization in the world to create a space debris policy with specific guidelines. Entitled the NASA Procedural Requirements for Limiting Orbital Debris, the organization spearheaded an effort to expand this policy throughout the entire United States Government. The United States is not the only country that is worried about space debris.

The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) is a collection of a spacefaring countries that has developed a set of international space debris guidelines. Space Debris has also been on the agenda at the United Nations since 1994. Since there are so many space debris committees there must be a lot of disagreement, right? Correct! The international community created at least four separate standards that all contain different guidelines and criteria governing space debris in Low Earth Orbit (anything below 2000 km).  Many of these policies are not quantitative and contain phrases such as “minimize the probability of occurrence.” Of these organizations, NASA has been the global pioneer on orbital debris. They were the first to acknowledge the problem, and the first to set up measurable guidelines to manage it.

Even with all of these regulations, launches still occurred from January 2008 to September 2017 that did not comply with the guidelines set forth by NASA. These guidelines consist of three simple rules; the post mission orbital lifetime must be less than 25 years, the threat of orbital debris from a mission explosion must be less than 0.001 and finally, the reentry human casualty risk must be less than 1 in 10000. Examples of missions that did not follow these rules are NOAA-19, with an orbital lifetime of 500 years, and MMS Atlas 5, with a human casualty risk of 1 in 600. NASA is trying to create better compliance for the future projects by working on a set of new standards that include reducing orbital debris during normal operations, minimizing the amount of debris created by accidental explosions, and by launching missions with disposable space structures.

OPINION: The Falcon Heavy launch was definitely a site to see, but the Tesla that is in space now is unnecessary. Yes, I think it’s comical, and I understand the promotional value that Elon Musk received for shooting a Tesla into space. But at what cost?  Currently, we don’t know where it is going. All we know is that it is going to pass Mars orbit in about 6 months and eventually make it back to somewhere around Earth.  Most orbital debris serves a useful purpose at some point during its mission but Musk’s Tesla was nothing more than a rocket payload. Sustainability is on everyone’s minds right now, but what about space sustainability? How long will it be until we need to start worrying about not being able to see the sky because of orbital trash?

Link: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20170011662.pdf

Liou, J.-C. 2017. Orbital Debris Briefing. NASA Technical Reports Sever: JSC-E-DAA-TN50234. 

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How long have we been in a drought?

Researchers from the South African Weather Service discovered that the Western Cape Province of South Africa has experienced mild drought conditions from 1985 to 2016. However, the ramifications from the drought on agricultural and economic activity were not recognized until 2014. In 2014, they encountered their worst water shortage.  According to Botai and her team,  the province experienced their worst water shortage in 113 years from 2014 to 2017.

In reaction to the water shortage, the government imposed water restrictions and rationing on consumers while they attempted to find a supplemental water source. Recently, more restrictions have been implemented to due to the extreme shortage. Currently, the consumers are limited to thirteen gallons of water a day.

Image of a port in South Africa.
South Africa faces an ongoing drought.

The Western Cape Province is home of the Cape Town port. Usually, the weather resembles a Mediterranean climate with hot dry summers and cold winters along the coast. For agricultural production, this climate is ideal for the food they grow like apples, pears, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, and grapes. Agricultural production is crucial to the West Cape economy, and the food security of the country.

Due to insufficient rainfall, the province has been declared a disaster region. The west coast of the province and Central Karoo are categorized as an agricultural drought disaster area. This means that there is insufficient soil and subsoil water to promote crop growth. Eden and Central Karoo are the municipalities most impacted by the drought on their crops as a result of warm temperature and evapotranspiration. Typically, the region has intense rainfall during the summers.  In addition to these municipalities, Overberg, Cape Winelands, and West Coast experienced mild drought conditions. However, the lands were traditionally characterized by winter rainfall with sunny and dry summers.

The researchers suggest the drought was offset by decreasing rainfall. Consequently, their water reservoirs are below 30% capacity.

Image of West Cape Province map signifying weather station and relative percipitation.
Figure 1, supplemented by Botai’s article, shows the study area and distribution of select water stations in red circles. The circle sizes are relative to the Mean Annual Precipitation recorded at stations.

Although this trend may appear to be isolated, severe droughts and water shortages have become prevalent in the states in case like California, Texas, Oklahoma; and the world in cases like Ethiopia, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iran, China. This has prompted meetings with officials from government, private sector, and other sectors to address this crisis. In these circumstances, it may be useful to utilize forecast on precipitation to prepare for drought similar to this one.

 

Source: Botai, C.M., Botai, J.O., de Wit, J.P., Ncongwane, K.P., Adeola, A.M. 2017. Drought Characteristics over the Western Cape Province, South Africa. MDPI 9:876.

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Hot or Not: How Pollinators Choose Which Flowers to Pollinate

hoverfly
Hoverfly by flickr user Neil Mullins.

Pollinators are essential for hundreds of thousands of plant species and over a thousand crop species. Without them, our agricultural system would suffer immensely. That is why it is so important to understand these creatures and the variables which attract them.

A study published in 2017, takes a deep look into what influences site choice by pollinators, specifically the Hoverfly. Researchers observed Hoverfly behavior in hemiboreal, alpine, and tropical environments in India and Sweden. For two years they collected data that observed which flowers Hoverflies were attracted to and which ones they did not care for. The Hoverflies are called generalists pollinators, meaning that they will take pollen from a range of plants, not just a specific species. Those studying the Hoverflies wanted to know more about the numerous plants that the pollinators would provide their services to. They tried to determine if the plants most attractive to pollinators had any common traits that would give them this advantage. These traits could include color, scent, or pattern.  

During the first year in 2015, researchers collected data from real flowers. In the second year of 2016, they created lures- artificial flowers- to attract the Hoverflies. Flowers which the pollinator visited and seemed attracted to were called “hot” and flowers which the pollinator thought of as less attractive but not repellant were called “cold”.

The study found some surprising results that conflict with existing ideas about pollinator preference. Hoverflies, and potentially other pollinators, can compensate for changes in their environment and locate a few specific traits that they favor. It was found that often floral color didn’t make a difference in preference. This shows that pollinators are versatile yet sensitive if changes within their environments occur.

Understanding the various characteristics across environments that attract Hoverflies is useful in many ways. For example, plants which contain likable characteristics could be planted in agricultural fields to increase wild pollination. In addition, the results can be used to maintain plants which will increase pollination and population growth of Hoverflies. Managing our pollinators has become a critical task as we recognize their importance and their threatened status.

Source: Nordström, K., Dahlbom, J., Pragadheesh, V. S., Ghosh, S.,Olsson, A., Dyakova, O., Suresh, S.K.,Olsson, S.B. 2017. In situ modeling of multimodal floral cues attracting wild pollinators across environments. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 14:13218-13223.

Photo Source: flickr