The animal world does not cease to amaze us with its miracles. Sometimes it is unpredictable and contradictory, but always mysterious and unusual. This also applies to such seemingly ordinary insects that get us honey. And along the way they pollinate the plants, allowing them to grow fruits and berries.
Unexpected fact
German scientists became interested in the issue of the impact of urbanization on winged arthropods and surprised the world a lot. The study showed an unexpected pattern. It turns out that in urban conditions the pollination of flowers by insects is better than in rural areas.
This seems surprising only at first glance. In fact, everything is simpler and more complicated at the same time. A deeper analysis made it possible to better understand how a person affects the environment. And why for some the city turned out to be much better than the village.
Scientists have found that bumblebees make the main contribution to the pollination of flowers in cities. This is almost three quarters of all recorded moments. Well, the lion's share of what remains belongs to bees, mostly wild. These insects turned out to be the main workaholic.
On all other insects, almost nothing remains. In the city, their contribution to this process is practically not noticeable, in contrast to rural areas. There, other insects, such as butterflies, wasps and flies, also have a significant impact on the pollen transfer process.
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Causes of anomalies
The experts who conducted the study concluded that it was simply much easier for these representatives of the flying fraternity to survive in cities. The buildings themselves do not interfere with their navigation, and perhaps even contribute. Namely, bees and bumblebees are distinguished by their navigational abilities, and the learning process is better for them.
It should be noted that there are much more places for safe housing. In addition, these insects have fewer natural enemies in the urban area, which is also important.
It is believed, according to scientists, and a much smaller amount of chemicals in the green areas of cities than in rural areas. In the latter, herbicides and other products of the chemical industry are abundantly used, which naturally affects insects.
The city also has enough of its chemistry, but it is used mainly in residential sectors and on roadways, and in green areas it is used very rarely. Since there is no constant struggle for high yields. This paradox surprised the scientists themselves.
As a result, the rates of pollination of flowers in rural areas were much paler than those in cities. Here, insects visited plants less often than their urban counterparts.
