Pollution by any other name...

would smell just as bad
In Shakespears Romeo and Juliet, Romeo utters the phrase "What's in a name? that which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet." Short of the story, he had a wrong last name and was ranting that it was just a name, and if a rose was named by any other name it would still smell wonderful. But...what if the character of Romeo were alive today, would a rose still smell so sweet?

New research by the University of Virginia reveals that the chemical makeup of the scent of a flower is being altered by air pollution. "Smell" at its simplest form, is the process of a chemical in a gaseous form being picked up by a receptor, for humans the olfactory nerves, which then triggers the response that we know as a scent. This principal, simplified as it is, is the same for any animal that uses scent for survival and navigation, such as bees.

Certain components of air pollution, such as ozone, easily bond to the scents of flower, essentially making a new smell, which in turn impacts the perception of what flowers exist in a bees territory. This could be another interesting component of why bee numbers are in drastic decline in the last year. The researches also found that human landscapes (cities, lawns, etc.) have impacted the distance in which the scent of a flowers travels, making it difficult for colonies of bees to sustain itself due to a limitation of a viable food source. Its an interesting twist to the concept of air pollution and the impact that humans can have in intricately linked ecosystems.

Can you hear me now?
Another type of pollution is causing havoc on song bird populations...Noise. Noise pollution is possibly causing an evolutionary wrinkle in the way that male birds sing their songs to attract mates. Faced with a constant onslaught of cars, trucks, and other city noises, some species of songbirds have been found to sing at higher decibels than their country counterparts.

Researchers speculate that noise pollution are forcing the birds to 'speak up' so as to be heard by mates. It was found that some birds, such as the Nightingale sang their loudest during weekday mornings during rush hour. There is some speculation that this phenomenon may create a evolutionary wrinkle, where separate sub-species of birds evolve...country birds and urban birds.

I always thought city dwellers spoke louder than country folk, now, it appears, their birds are following in their footsteps. :-) Check out the article for more in depth examples. Have a great Saturday! Cheers