Saving Pollinators Critical Importance & Solutions! #science #mains

Pollinators decline and its effect

Pollinators are animals that transfer pollen from anther(male) to stigma(female) results into fertilization of flowering plants, therefore leading to higher agricultural yield, biodiversity services and seed production. The major pollinators are bees, wasps, butterflies, moths,flies,insects, beetles, birds, mammals like bats, squirrels, monkeys,etc.

Pollinating Agents : 

Plants utilise both biotic and abiotic agents for pollination.

Biotic agents – Animals, insects, butterflies, etc. Pollination by insects is called entomophily and pollination by birds is called ornithophily. Pollination by vertebrates is known as zoophily.

Abiotic agents – Wind and water. Wind pollination is known as anemophily and pollination by water is called hydrophily.

Importance of pollinators : 

1. Globally nearly 90% of wild flowering plant species depend on animal pollination.

2. Pollinators consequently play a key role in regulating ecosystem services supporting food production, habitats and natural resources.

3. More than 75% of leading global crop types benefit from animal pollination in production, yield and quality.

4. Around 5-8% of current global crop production is directly ascribed to animal pollination, which equates to somewhere between 235 and 577 billion American dollars worldwide.

Threats to pollinators : 

1.  Climate change has altered the range, abundance and seasonal activities of some wild pollinator species.

2. Humans have altered the natural landscape and changed land use, reducing the natural habitat of wild pollinator species.

3. Environmental pollution has degraded the natural habitats.

4.  Habitat destruction, fragmentation and degradation often reduce pollinators’ food and nesting resources.

5. Intensive agriculture practices use of pesticides and insecticides threaten the pollinator species.

6.  Mass breeding and large-scale transport of managed bees contributed to an enhanced transmission of parasites and pathogens. This spreads diseases across the entire community of both wild and managed pollinators. 

7. Additionally, it increases the occurrence of more dangerous pathogens, alien species invasions and regional extinction of native species.

 more than 40% of bee families are threatened with extinction. These are some of reasons that natural pollinators are disappearing:

• Change of land use, intensive agriculture, the spread of transgenic crops and plantations of invasive exotic species.

• Environmental pollution, climate change and the use of pesticides, especially neonicotinoid insecticides.

• Proliferation of pathogens which attack bee populations bred in captivity.

Effect of declining pollinators : 

The international community is worried about the decline in natural pollination. A reasonable fear, as global agriculture needs more pollinators every day to supply food: crops that depend on these animals currently yield 300% more than five decades ago.

The extinction of pollinators could put our health at risk, as we will lose the ability to grow vegetables, fruit and seeds —food necessary for a healthy diet. It would also harm development of medications, biofuels, fibres such as cotton and construction materials like wood. Crop losses due to natural pollination would affect the economy of many countries and many jobs would be lost in the farming industry and ancillary industries.

Measures to check decline of pollinators : 

The UN, through IPBES, has suggested a strategic plan to slow down the disappearance of natural pollinators, which consists of:

1. Promoting the transition towards sustainable agriculture and eliminating large areas devoted to monoculture.

2.   Developing new agricultural techniques which combine scientific developments with traditional practices like crop rotation and fallow land habitats.

3.   Avoiding pesticide use and promoting organic farming and integrated pest management.

4. Reducing production of transgenic crops — organisms which are genetically modified using agricultural biotechnology.

5.  Paying more attention to pathogen hygiene and control at honeybee farms. This involves improving the rules regarding the use of and trade in honeybees.

6.   Diversifying crops and rehabilitating ecosystems to ready them for the consequences of climate change.

7.   Driving global governance to enable a coordinated approach between different sectors and jurisdictions, making society aware of the magnitude of the problem.