Flowers 'giving up' on scarce insects and evolving to self-pollinate, say scientists

[cbabe]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/20/flowers-giving-up-on-scarce-insects-and-evolving-to-self-pollinate-say-scientists

Flowers ‘giving up’ on scarce insects and evolving to self-pollinate, say scientists

French wild pansies are producing smaller flowers and less nectar than 20 to 30 years ago in ‘startling’ act of evolution, study shows

Phoebe Weston
@phoeb0
Tue 19 Dec 2023 19.01 EST

Flowers are “giving up on” pollinators and evolving to be less attractive to them as insect numbers decline, researchers have said.

A study has found the flowers of field pansies growing near Paris are 10% smaller and produce 20% less nectar than flowers growing in the same fields 20 to 30 years ago. They are also less frequently visited by insects.

“Our study shows that pansies are evolving to give up on their pollinators,” said Pierre-Olivier Cheptou, one of the study’s authors and a researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research. “They are evolving towards self-pollination, where each plant reproduces with itself, which works in the short term but may well limit their capacity to adapt to future environmental changes.”

Plants produce nectar for insects, and in return insects transport pollen between plants. This mutually beneficial relationship has formed over millions of years of coevolution. But pansies and pollinators may now be stuck in a vicious cycle: plants are producing less nectar and this means there will be less food available to insects, which will in turn accelerate declines.

…more…

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Have ChristoFascists filed to make it illegal yet?

They get really juiced on deviant sex.

[The Roux Comes First]

2. My Understanding is

That this has inspired them to a frenzy of researching this new term "masturbation"!

[WestMichRad]

3. Fascinating!

Plants are evolving quickly to adapt to adverse developing conditions, even though it may be detrimental to their long-term survivability.

I recently came across a somewhat related article about how seed quality is adversely affected if flowers are visited primarily by honeybees (rather than native insect pollinators):
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/flowers-pollinate-honeybees-low-seeds

Humans likely have many more adverse impacts on nature than we recognize.

[rampartc]

4. i posted it this way to a predominately maga board ........

www.theguardian.com
Flowers âgiving upâ on scarce insects and evolving to self-pollinate, say scientists
French wild pansies are producing smaller flowers and less nectar than 20 to 30 years ago in ‘startling’ act of evolution, study shows
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

mods : this may belong in "culture but my esteemed colleagues have made this the defining issue of our generation. i'd rather not talk about this at all, but here goes .....

in much of nature procreation occurs by transferring male material from one flower to the female material in another. sex, therefore , requires a massage de trois with a consenting insect.

well, that is a problem. since "silent spring" the number of available insects has decreased to the point of endangering some species.

darwin , of course, has a plan. the incel plants are evolving into self pollinators. a behavior not previously seen in pansies. what if similar biological changes are occurring near a high school gym class, mysteriously inspiring the former "boys" to join the girl's track team ............

mirc team: guilty. hide if this is sensitive. i'll try and watch that in the future etc etc etc