UK NEWS

WHY FLOWERS NO LONGER SMELL LIKE THEY USED TO

NO SCENT: Air pollution is destroying flowers' natural fragrance, one natural history site claims

Friday March 28,2008

By Polly Buchanan

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FOR years men have been saying it with flowers.

But a sweet-smelling bouquet may no longer be the way to a woman’s heart – because flowers are in danger of losing their scent.

The reason? Air pollution caused by a whole variety of emissions is destroying flowers’ natural fragrance, according to new research on the natural history website loveearth.com.

So serious is the effect that some flowers which rely on pollination by insects could die out altogether.

For pollution is swamping the natural fragrances that flowers emit to attract insects like bees. Scientists fear that pollinating insects often can’t smell flowers if they are more than 200 metres away.

Before the industrial revolution more than a century ago insects could smell flowers a mile away.

All the chemicals and car emissions now pumped into the atmosphere every day are breaking down the strength of their aromas, as well as making flowers unhealthy and their colours noticeably less vibrant.

This, in turn, also makes them less attractive to insects.

Jose Fuentes, who led the research funded by the US National Science Foundation, said: “The biggest surprise was the amount of destruction of scents.”

The effect on pollination is thought to be altering the diversity of such insects across the globe.

Just two years ago European researchers reported a steep decline in the range of bumblebees and hoverflies across Britain.

Bees are particularly affected, which is worrying because they are specialist pollinators without which some flowers couldn’t survive.