Times of India , Saturday, March 29, 2008

Correspondent : Staff Reporter

LONDON: Trying to woo a woman with a sweet-smelling bouquet of blooms flowers may not work any more, for flowers are fast losing their scent due to air pollution. The finding is based on new research led by Jose Fuentes that appears on the natural history website loveearth.com. And, researchers state, that the effect will be devastating, for if flowers lose their natural fragrances, they will then not be able to attract pollinating insects like bees, thus hastening the blooms' extinction. Researchers who conducted the study warn that pollution has already taken such a toll that insect now often can't smell flowers if they are more than 200 metres away, as compared to a mile away before the industrial revolution. Pollution is also making flowers unhealthy and their colours less vibrant, in turn making them less attractive to insects. The study was funded by the US National Science Foundation.

SOURCE : Times of India, Saturday, 29 March 2008