Less buzz, less variety: fewer pollinators lead to lower plant diversity

By Clare Kenyon
August 12 2022 - 6:30am
Flying honey bee collecting pollen from tree blossom. Picture: Shutterstock.
Flying honey bee collecting pollen from tree blossom. Picture: Shutterstock.

In an unexpected twist on Darwin's survival of the fittest, a research collaboration from Princeton University, US, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zrich, has found that as plants compete for a declining population of visiting pollinators (bees, butterflies, and other insects), they experience population decline and an overall decrease in species diversity.

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