Researchers investigate the role of flies in pollination. Credit: University of Rochester.
«The fly-pollinators association is very small,» notes senior au포커thor James Schuurman, an associate professor in Rochester’s Department of Horticultural Sciences. «We don’t have enough data to draw any definitive conclusions about whether these associations are biologically significant or not.»
The study is published online in Th코인카지노e Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
«This research addresses a potentially important question in pollination; how do humans respond to the insects we raise for food? Our work demonstrates that insect pollination, although not a normal activity in our카지노 environment, can be affected by our decisions of what we eat,» says Schuurman. «If a person thinks they are eating more insects, they may actually not eat as many. Therefore, insect pollination may serve a function other than providing food. And because insects and human food are interdependent, the human response may influence the overall behavior of either.»
The authors also say that insect pollination may contribute to pollinator declines in North America.
This study examines the relationship between how pollinators are perceived by people and how well they respond to changes in that perception, such as whether and where insects are grown.
For instance, people with low knowledge about insect pollination may respond less than others to the presence of new, exotic insects like butterflies or hummingbirds.
«We do not see how low-knowledge people respond,» Schuurman says. «A similar idea is important for public health; if people are less likely to see insects, their personal behavior might be affected.»
Schuurman notes that insects may be «predictably attractive» to humans. «We find that people are more likely to perceive a ‘lesser’ insect if we associate them with insects that are larger in size, such as moths or butterflies,» he says.
Explore further: Insect pollinators need more insect pollination
More information: «The effects of insect pollination on plant and animal health and population dynamics,» by James A. M. Schuurman et al. PNAS (2015).