Latest news with #ecosystems
CNN
2 days ago
- Science
- CNN
Bees are vital to the planet, but they're in decline. What can be done?
'If pollinators designed gardens, what would humans see?' Over a video call, the London-based artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is talking about 'Pollinator Pathway,' an online tool she developed that allows users to design gardens for the benefit of pollinating insects, such as bees — many species of which are facing extinction. The planting designs are generated using an algorithm that prioritizes flowering plants that pollinators like to feed on, and the project has resulted in flower-filled gardens around the world, which Ginsberg calls 'living artworks.' The project is one of many on show at 'More than Human,' an exhibition at the Design Museum in London, running until October 5. Exploring the interconnected relationship between humans and animals, plants and other living beings, the exhibition showcases ideas for how to live in better harmony with the natural world. Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, wasps and hummingbirds, are essential for maintaining biodiversity and the health of the Earth's ecosystems. As they move between flowers, to collect nectar for food, they unintentionally transfer pollen along the way, enabling the plants to reproduce. According to the United Nations, a third of the world's food production depends on pollinators like bees. But bee populations have been declining. In the US, the National Agriculture Statistics Service reported a reduction from 5.9 million honey-producing bee colonies in 1947 to 2.44 million in 2008. Between June 2024 and February 2025, US commercial beekeepers reported a 62% loss of their managed honeybee colonies. 'One of the main causes of declines (of pollinators) is landscape change and the decline of flowers in anthropogenic landscapes,' said Harland Patch, an assistant research professor in the department of entomology at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of 'The Lives of Bees.' Scientists attribute the loss of natural, biodiverse habitat to climate change, pollution, pesticides and human-driven development. One of the key ways to support bees is ensuring they have a diverse array of flowers to feed on. Architects and designers, in response, have begun to plant 'pollinator-friendly' gardens. The 'Alusta' pavilion from Finnish architecture practice Suomi/Koivisto, also showcased at 'More than Human,' is a temporary structure and garden created in Helsinki in 2022. 'We contacted a group of ecology researchers to ask if it's possible to invite pollinators onto a paved parking lot in the center of Helsinki,' said co-founder Maiju Suomi over a video call. 'They said yes, if you choose the right plants.' With help from the ecologists, Suomi/Koivisto selected pollinator-friendly plants — such as cowslip, lemon thyme, wild strawberry, and hyssop — and arranged them around a pavilion made of clay blocks. 'We wanted to make a space to represent how our fates are entangled with non-human species,' said Suomi. 'If they don't survive, we don't survive either.' Working on a project like this, she added, 'you start understanding how we as designers can make decisions that support those relationships rather than break them.' At the Arboretum at Penn State University, a park and botanical garden complex, a special Pollinator and Bird Garden was created in 2021 to attract local pollinating insects and birds. Designed by Didier Design Studio, Claudia West and Phyto Studio, the garden features flowering plants including goldenrods, native mountain mint, and fennel. The designers organized the planting to ensure it looked beautiful while fulfilling a scientific purpose. One of the aims of the garden is to inspire visitors to do their own pollinator-friendly planting, if they have the resources. 'The primary rule is plant as many flowering plants as you can,' said Patch, the research scientist from Penn State, who is also director of pollinator programming at the Arboretum. 'Start plant clubs and get your neighbors, your town, to do the same. In the 21st century, we should be shocked if a neighborhood is not filled with flowers.' As well as flowers to feed on, designers have created innovative homes for bees to shelter and nest in, hoping to help them survive. While beehives — manmade structures within which honeybees can nest and produce honey — have been created for millennia, designs continue to develop. At this year's Milan Design Week, a new beehive called 'Host' was unveiled by London-based industrial design studio Layer in collaboration with Spanish furniture manufacturer Andreu World. The modular design, in timber, metal and straw, evolves the typical beehive model of stacked boxes. 'We analyzed existing beehives and saw some opportunities to improve them,' said Layer founder Benjamin Hubert over a video call. The 'Host' design features efficient ventilation and rain coverage, as well as straw insulation around the brood chamber to keep the bees warmer in cold temperatures — all to improve the beehive's 'livability,' Hubert said. French artist and designer Marlene Huissoud created a special beehive at the SFER IK Museum in Mexico for the Melipona bee, a local species facing population decline. The beehive, named 'Mama,' resembles a dynamic group of tree trunks. 'It's like a tree that has different channels, and each one has a different swarm of bees living inside,' explained Huissoud over a video call. She collaborated with a local beekeeper to design a structure that would be 'comfortable' for the bees, giving them maximum privacy from human onlookers. Huissoud's father was a beekeeper, instilling in her as she grew up a fascination with the insects. 'Living with bees really sparked my interest,' she said. Many of Huissoud's pieces are designed as habitats for bees and other pollinators, and her 'Please Stand By' chair in clay, dotted with holes for insects to nest in, is on show at 'More than Human.' All of our design decisions that are not combatting climate change, are making the living conditions of all non-humans and humans worse. Maiju Suomi, co-founder of the architecture practice Suomi/Koivisto Beehives are only for honeybees, however, which represent only a small portion of the approximately 20,000 bee species globally. Many species are solitary, meaning they like to nest alone. So-called 'bee hotels' use bundles of hollow canes or wooden logs drilled with holes, within birdhouse-like wooden structures, to recreate the natural habitats that solitary bees like to nest in. Versions populate many gardens and parks all over the world, including the Arboretum at Penn State. In 2020, Copenhagen-based designer Tanita Klein teamed up with design studio Bakken & Bæck and Space10, IKEA's former research and design lab, to create 'Bee Home,' a modular, Tetris-like bee hotel design in timber. As an open-source parametric design, users can use an online tool to select the size, height and style that suits their taste, and download the design files for fabrication. The resulting structures resemble miniature city towers in wood, patterned with window-like holes for nesting in. Specially designed hole-studded architectural bricks (dubbed as 'bee bricks') can be used in building exteriors or garden walls to provide nesting opportunities for solitary bees. In the English city of Brighton, such bee bricks have been made a necessary condition of planning approval for most new buildings. Suomi, the architect from Suomi/Koivisto, sees 'direct' design interventions such as these as important, but also points to the ways in which designers can support bees and other pollinators through 'indirect' actions. 'Climate change alters the living conditions for all living beings, making them worse in most cases, and accelerating the loss of biodiversity,' she said. 'All of our design decisions that are not combatting climate change, are making the living conditions of all non-humans and humans worse.'
CNN
2 days ago
- Science
- CNN
Bees are vital to the planet, but they're in decline. What can be done?
'If pollinators designed gardens, what would humans see?' Over a video call, the London-based artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is talking about 'Pollinator Pathway,' an online tool she developed that allows users to design gardens for the benefit of pollinating insects, such as bees — many species of which are facing extinction. The planting designs are generated using an algorithm that prioritizes flowering plants that pollinators like to feed on, and the project has resulted in flower-filled gardens around the world, which Ginsberg calls 'living artworks.' The project is one of many on show at 'More than Human,' an exhibition at the Design Museum in London, running until October 5. Exploring the interconnected relationship between humans and animals, plants and other living beings, the exhibition showcases ideas for how to live in better harmony with the natural world. Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, wasps and hummingbirds, are essential for maintaining biodiversity and the health of the Earth's ecosystems. As they move between flowers, to collect nectar for food, they unintentionally transfer pollen along the way, enabling the plants to reproduce. According to the United Nations, a third of the world's food production depends on pollinators like bees. But bee populations have been declining. In the US, the National Agriculture Statistics Service reported a reduction from 5.9 million honey-producing bee colonies in 1947 to 2.44 million in 2008. Between June 2024 and February 2025, US commercial beekeepers reported a 62% loss of their managed honeybee colonies. 'One of the main causes of declines (of pollinators) is landscape change and the decline of flowers in anthropogenic landscapes,' said Harland Patch, an assistant research professor in the department of entomology at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of 'The Lives of Bees.' Scientists attribute the loss of natural, biodiverse habitat to climate change, pollution, pesticides and human-driven development. One of the key ways to support bees is ensuring they have a diverse array of flowers to feed on. Architects and designers, in response, have begun to plant 'pollinator-friendly' gardens. The 'Alusta' pavilion from Finnish architecture practice Suomi/Koivisto, also showcased at 'More than Human,' is a temporary structure and garden created in Helsinki in 2022. 'We contacted a group of ecology researchers to ask if it's possible to invite pollinators onto a paved parking lot in the center of Helsinki,' said co-founder Maiju Suomi over a video call. 'They said yes, if you choose the right plants.' With help from the ecologists, Suomi/Koivisto selected pollinator-friendly plants — such as cowslip, lemon thyme, wild strawberry, and hyssop — and arranged them around a pavilion made of clay blocks. 'We wanted to make a space to represent how our fates are entangled with non-human species,' said Suomi. 'If they don't survive, we don't survive either.' Working on a project like this, she added, 'you start understanding how we as designers can make decisions that support those relationships rather than break them.' At the Arboretum at Penn State University, a park and botanical garden complex, a special Pollinator and Bird Garden was created in 2021 to attract local pollinating insects and birds. Designed by Didier Design Studio, Claudia West and Phyto Studio, the garden features flowering plants including goldenrods, native mountain mint, and fennel. The designers organized the planting to ensure it looked beautiful while fulfilling a scientific purpose. One of the aims of the garden is to inspire visitors to do their own pollinator-friendly planting, if they have the resources. 'The primary rule is plant as many flowering plants as you can,' said Patch, the research scientist from Penn State, who is also director of pollinator programming at the Arboretum. 'Start plant clubs and get your neighbors, your town, to do the same. In the 21st century, we should be shocked if a neighborhood is not filled with flowers.' As well as flowers to feed on, designers have created innovative homes for bees to shelter and nest in, hoping to help them survive. While beehives — manmade structures within which honeybees can nest and produce honey — have been created for millennia, designs continue to develop. At this year's Milan Design Week, a new beehive called 'Host' was unveiled by London-based industrial design studio Layer in collaboration with Spanish furniture manufacturer Andreu World. The modular design, in timber, metal and straw, evolves the typical beehive model of stacked boxes. 'We analyzed existing beehives and saw some opportunities to improve them,' said Layer founder Benjamin Hubert over a video call. The 'Host' design features efficient ventilation and rain coverage, as well as straw insulation around the brood chamber to keep the bees warmer in cold temperatures — all to improve the beehive's 'livability,' Hubert said. French artist and designer Marlene Huissoud created a special beehive at the SFER IK Museum in Mexico for the Melipona bee, a local species facing population decline. The beehive, named 'Mama,' resembles a dynamic group of tree trunks. 'It's like a tree that has different channels, and each one has a different swarm of bees living inside,' explained Huissoud over a video call. She collaborated with a local beekeeper to design a structure that would be 'comfortable' for the bees, giving them maximum privacy from human onlookers. Huissoud's father was a beekeeper, instilling in her as she grew up a fascination with the insects. 'Living with bees really sparked my interest,' she said. Many of Huissoud's pieces are designed as habitats for bees and other pollinators, and her 'Please Stand By' chair in clay, dotted with holes for insects to nest in, is on show at 'More than Human.' All of our design decisions that are not combatting climate change, are making the living conditions of all non-humans and humans worse. Maiju Suomi, co-founder of the architecture practice Suomi/Koivisto Beehives are only for honeybees, however, which represent only a small portion of the approximately 20,000 bee species globally. Many species are solitary, meaning they like to nest alone. So-called 'bee hotels' use bundles of hollow canes or wooden logs drilled with holes, within birdhouse-like wooden structures, to recreate the natural habitats that solitary bees like to nest in. Versions populate many gardens and parks all over the world, including the Arboretum at Penn State. In 2020, Copenhagen-based designer Tanita Klein teamed up with design studio Bakken & Bæck and Space10, IKEA's former research and design lab, to create 'Bee Home,' a modular, Tetris-like bee hotel design in timber. As an open-source parametric design, users can use an online tool to select the size, height and style that suits their taste, and download the design files for fabrication. The resulting structures resemble miniature city towers in wood, patterned with window-like holes for nesting in. Specially designed hole-studded architectural bricks (dubbed as 'bee bricks') can be used in building exteriors or garden walls to provide nesting opportunities for solitary bees. In the English city of Brighton, such bee bricks have been made a necessary condition of planning approval for most new buildings. Suomi, the architect from Suomi/Koivisto, sees 'direct' design interventions such as these as important, but also points to the ways in which designers can support bees and other pollinators through 'indirect' actions. 'Climate change alters the living conditions for all living beings, making them worse in most cases, and accelerating the loss of biodiversity,' she said. 'All of our design decisions that are not combatting climate change, are making the living conditions of all non-humans and humans worse.'
CNN
2 days ago
- Science
- CNN
Bees are vital to the planet, but they're in decline. What can be done?
'If pollinators designed gardens, what would humans see?' Over a video call, the London-based artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is talking about 'Pollinator Pathway,' an online tool she developed that allows users to design gardens for the benefit of pollinating insects, such as bees — many species of which are facing extinction. The planting designs are generated using an algorithm that prioritizes flowering plants that pollinators like to feed on, and the project has resulted in flower-filled gardens around the world, which Ginsberg calls 'living artworks.' The project is one of many on show at 'More than Human,' an exhibition at the Design Museum in London, running until October 5. Exploring the interconnected relationship between humans and animals, plants and other living beings, the exhibition showcases ideas for how to live in better harmony with the natural world. Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, wasps and hummingbirds, are essential for maintaining biodiversity and the health of the Earth's ecosystems. As they move between flowers, to collect nectar for food, they unintentionally transfer pollen along the way, enabling the plants to reproduce. According to the United Nations, a third of the world's food production depends on pollinators like bees. But bee populations have been declining. In the US, the National Agriculture Statistics Service reported a reduction from 5.9 million honey-producing bee colonies in 1947 to 2.44 million in 2008. Between June 2024 and February 2025, US commercial beekeepers reported a 62% loss of their managed honeybee colonies. 'One of the main causes of declines (of pollinators) is landscape change and the decline of flowers in anthropogenic landscapes,' said Harland Patch, an assistant research professor in the department of entomology at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of 'The Lives of Bees.' Scientists attribute the loss of natural, biodiverse habitat to climate change, pollution, pesticides and human-driven development. One of the key ways to support bees is ensuring they have a diverse array of flowers to feed on. Architects and designers, in response, have begun to plant 'pollinator-friendly' gardens. The 'Alusta' pavilion from Finnish architecture practice Suomi/Koivisto, also showcased at 'More than Human,' is a temporary structure and garden created in Helsinki in 2022. 'We contacted a group of ecology researchers to ask if it's possible to invite pollinators onto a paved parking lot in the center of Helsinki,' said co-founder Maiju Suomi over a video call. 'They said yes, if you choose the right plants.' With help from the ecologists, Suomi/Koivisto selected pollinator-friendly plants — such as cowslip, lemon thyme, wild strawberry, and hyssop — and arranged them around a pavilion made of clay blocks. 'We wanted to make a space to represent how our fates are entangled with non-human species,' said Suomi. 'If they don't survive, we don't survive either.' Working on a project like this, she added, 'you start understanding how we as designers can make decisions that support those relationships rather than break them.' At the Arboretum at Penn State University, a park and botanical garden complex, a special Pollinator and Bird Garden was created in 2021 to attract local pollinating insects and birds. Designed by Didier Design Studio, Claudia West and Phyto Studio, the garden features flowering plants including goldenrods, native mountain mint, and fennel. The designers organized the planting to ensure it looked beautiful while fulfilling a scientific purpose. One of the aims of the garden is to inspire visitors to do their own pollinator-friendly planting, if they have the resources. 'The primary rule is plant as many flowering plants as you can,' said Patch, the research scientist from Penn State, who is also director of pollinator programming at the Arboretum. 'Start plant clubs and get your neighbors, your town, to do the same. In the 21st century, we should be shocked if a neighborhood is not filled with flowers.' As well as flowers to feed on, designers have created innovative homes for bees to shelter and nest in, hoping to help them survive. While beehives — manmade structures within which honeybees can nest and produce honey — have been created for millennia, designs continue to develop. At this year's Milan Design Week, a new beehive called 'Host' was unveiled by London-based industrial design studio Layer in collaboration with Spanish furniture manufacturer Andreu World. The modular design, in timber, metal and straw, evolves the typical beehive model of stacked boxes. 'We analyzed existing beehives and saw some opportunities to improve them,' said Layer founder Benjamin Hubert over a video call. The 'Host' design features efficient ventilation and rain coverage, as well as straw insulation around the brood chamber to keep the bees warmer in cold temperatures — all to improve the beehive's 'livability,' Hubert said. French artist and designer Marlene Huissoud created a special beehive at the SFER IK Museum in Mexico for the Melipona bee, a local species facing population decline. The beehive, named 'Mama,' resembles a dynamic group of tree trunks. 'It's like a tree that has different channels, and each one has a different swarm of bees living inside,' explained Huissoud over a video call. She collaborated with a local beekeeper to design a structure that would be 'comfortable' for the bees, giving them maximum privacy from human onlookers. Huissoud's father was a beekeeper, instilling in her as she grew up a fascination with the insects. 'Living with bees really sparked my interest,' she said. Many of Huissoud's pieces are designed as habitats for bees and other pollinators, and her 'Please Stand By' chair in clay, dotted with holes for insects to nest in, is on show at 'More than Human.' All of our design decisions that are not combatting climate change, are making the living conditions of all non-humans and humans worse. Maiju Suomi, co-founder of the architecture practice Suomi/Koivisto Beehives are only for honeybees, however, which represent only a small portion of the approximately 20,000 bee species globally. Many species are solitary, meaning they like to nest alone. So-called 'bee hotels' use bundles of hollow canes or wooden logs drilled with holes, within birdhouse-like wooden structures, to recreate the natural habitats that solitary bees like to nest in. Versions populate many gardens and parks all over the world, including the Arboretum at Penn State. In 2020, Copenhagen-based designer Tanita Klein teamed up with design studio Bakken & Bæck and Space10, IKEA's former research and design lab, to create 'Bee Home,' a modular, Tetris-like bee hotel design in timber. As an open-source parametric design, users can use an online tool to select the size, height and style that suits their taste, and download the design files for fabrication. The resulting structures resemble miniature city towers in wood, patterned with window-like holes for nesting in. Specially designed hole-studded architectural bricks (dubbed as 'bee bricks') can be used in building exteriors or garden walls to provide nesting opportunities for solitary bees. In the English city of Brighton, such bee bricks have been made a necessary condition of planning approval for most new buildings. Suomi, the architect from Suomi/Koivisto, sees 'direct' design interventions such as these as important, but also points to the ways in which designers can support bees and other pollinators through 'indirect' actions. 'Climate change alters the living conditions for all living beings, making them worse in most cases, and accelerating the loss of biodiversity,' she said. 'All of our design decisions that are not combatting climate change, are making the living conditions of all non-humans and humans worse.'
Mail & Guardian
3 days ago
- Health
- Mail & Guardian
Antiretroviral drugs in South Africa's rivers raise environmental concerns
A new study has found that lopinavir and efavirenz are the top pollutants in water bodies, many associated with waste water treatment plants Significant concentrations of The drugs most frequently detected were The research, by The study found that aquatic ecosystems and wastewater management systems were affected. Freshwater snails exposed to ARVs exhibited altered embryonic development, while bacteriophages — viruses critical to controlling bacteria in wastewater treatment — were significantly affected. Such disruptions could lead to bacterial blooms and reduced water quality, the authors said. 'The consumption of any type of exogenous drug by any organism in sufficient quantities may intervene with the regulation of metabolic systems and bring about adverse effects,' said the study, warning that the presence of antiretrovirals in water 'can be considered a hidden or latent risk'. The potential risks for human health were also red-flagged. 'Humans are also exposed to these compounds via drinking water, and at concentrations exceeding calculated hazard quotients,' the authors said. 'Although not found in this study, humans and other organisms may potentially ingest antiretrovirals and their breakdown products via aquatic organisms such as fish.' Concentrations of ARVs in some water sources exceeded acceptable thresholds, posing potential long-term health risks to humans. Current wastewater treatment processes are inadequate for removing these bioactive compounds, underlining the need for technological advancements. Nearly all antiretrovirals were found in natural systems and some in drinking water, although none were found in the fish tissue samples, nor were antiretroviral metabolites found. South Africa has the greatest consumption of antiretroviral drugs per capita, with prescribed amounts of up to The antiviral drugs being consumed and excreted through various pathways, including domestic and sewage wastes, into the natural environment pose an 'ever-increasing risk of Many of the biological, economic and social concerns of these highly bioactive compounds are unknown while endeavours to mount an effective solution are 'fragmented and vastly under-resourced'. The research noted that certain antiretroviral compounds can be excreted largely unchanged after consumption, including acyclovir didanosine and tenofovir, whereas other compounds undergo extensive bio-transformation before elimination from the body. 'Up to 90% of orally consumed pharmaceutical drugs reach wastewater in one form or another,' the report said. 'Research also suggests that compounds such as emtricitabine, ganciclovir and lamivudine are metabolised only to a small extent in the human body (10% to 30%), whereas abacavir and zidovudine are primarily metabolised to their glucuronide-adducts.' To quantify ARV levels in waterways, the researchers used state-of-the-art analytical methods, including liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Their work also involved biological assays to gauge the toxicological effects of ARVs on non-target organisms and hazard assessments to evaluate risks to human health. The compounds detected included ARVs (nevirapine, ritonavir, lopinavir, efavirenz, zidovudine) and the antifungal fluconazole. Although most pharmaceuticals are not persistent in nature, they are constantly introduced into the water sources, the researchers said. ARVs have not yet been classified to be hazardous to the environment or vertebrates that are indirectly exposed. Of the 72 sites sampled, 69 sites had never been investigated. Water was sampled upstream and downstream of wastewater treatment plants — specifically Sunderland Ridge, Vlakplaats, Waterval, Olifantsfontein River, Welgedacht, Zeekoegat, Flip Human and Baragwanath — in northern and southern Gauteng. Sampling sites included the The most frequently detected compound was fluconazole (28 detections from 72 samples), with concentrations ranging from 0.06 to 1.8 μg/L (micrograms per litre). Nevirapine and efavirenz were the second-most detected compounds, both with 22 out of 72 samples. On average, lopinavir and efavirenz had the highest concentrations of the compounds analysed. Didanosine and zidovudine were the least detected compounds — two and six out of 72. The research found the ARVs and the antifungal fluconazole that is used with ARVs are in water bodies and drinking water sources across Gauteng and in the Mooi River in the North West. These compounds are 'pseudopersistent in the environment', and it is unknown what effects these might have on the biota that are exposed to these compounds. 'These may also accumulate in the tissues of organisms exposed.' Humans can be exposed to these compounds if they consume organisms from these water sources. 'It is possible that these could cause detrimental effects, especially when other pharmaceuticals and their metabolites (resulting in a mixture effect) would also likely be present.' The researchers calculated the hazard quotient (HQ) for each ARV detected in the sampling sites and found that 'certain ARVs from different rivers, over five months of sampling, pose an unacceptable level of risk'. 'The HQs calculated for the ARVs and fluconazole ranged from 0 to 216 with lopinavir having the highest HQ and also exceeding the HQ risk level of 1 in almost all of the samples.' Fluconazole was the only compound that did not have a HQ greater than 1 in any of the samples. 'The majority of the sites located in the Hennops, Jukskei, Klip and Crocodile rivers, except for the drinking water sites, had a hazard index indicating cumulative risk, greater than 1 indicating that the mixtures pose a significant risk for consumer's health and that monitoring is needed.' The results showed that surface water sources from urbanised and industrial areas were contaminated with high concentrations of ARVs and fluconazole compared to other countries worldwide. 'In this study, an unacceptable risk to human health was identified when a hazard assessment was applied by using the minimum therapeutic dose approach.' Humankind's 'relentless attempt' to provide therapeutic benefits from chemicals is coupled to the inevitable discharge of pharmaceuticals into the natural and social environment, the authors said. Several key recommendations include developing regulatory guidelines for ARV concentrations in water, improving wastewater treatment technologies, and conducting further research to understand the long-term ecological and human health impacts of these pharmaceuticals. The researchers also advocate for a multidisciplinary approach to address the intersections of public health and environmental sustainability. 'It is difficult to recognise the perils ahead, and even more difficult to provide an effective response,' they said. 'If tipping points or thresholds are reached, it can lead to abrupt changes in the services provided by ecological systems, which, aside from triggering undesirable shifts in the natural balance, can have adverse social and economic consequences.'
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Common farm chemicals may be heralding an ‘insect apocalypse'
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, BGR may receive an affiliate commission. Fruits and vegetables are often sprayed with fungicides to keep mold at bay. However, new research suggests one of these chemicals could be quietly harming insects that are critical to healthy ecosystems and could lead to an insect apocalypse. According to a study from Macquarie University, one of the world's most widely used fungicides, chlorothalonil, drastically reduces insect fertility. It does so even at the lowest levels commonly found on produce. Today's Top Deals XGIMI Prime Day deals feature the new MoGo 4 and up to 42% off smart projectors Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Best Ring Video Doorbell deals During testing and research, scientists exposed fruit flies to real-world doses of the chemical and found that their egg production dropped by over a third. The effect wasn't something that happened slowly over time, either. Instead, it was immediate and significant, the statement says, affecting both male and female fertility. And this isn't an effect like when researchers got fruit flies hooked on cocaine, either. This is actually life threatening for the population. And while that might sound useful, especially considering how annoying fruit flies can be when they settle down a plant in your home, it's a big deal for more than just flies. Insects like bees, flies, and other pollinators are crucial for growing the food we eat. If their populations decline, it could disrupt pollination and harm crops in the long run. This study is just the latest in a growing list of research documenting steep drops in insect populations around the world, which some scientists have heralded as an impending insect apocalypse. What's especially concerning is that this fungicide isn't just used when there's a risk of infection. It's often applied preventatively, when no disease is present in the crops. While it's true that chlorothalonil is banned in the European Union, it remains widely used in places like Australia, where it's applied to everything from vineyards to farms that harvest berries. Despite its popularity, chlorothalonil hasn't been studied under the microscope all that much. Fewer than 25 published studies have explored its impact on insects, so this new study could be a massive piece of a case against the future usage of this chemical. This also points to a major gap in how we evaluate the environmental effects of common pesticides we rely on. The researchers behind the study suggest rethinking how often chlorothalonil is applied. By spacing out treatments, farmers could give insect populations time to recover between sprays. While not the best outcome by any means, it would at least mitigate some of the damage we're doing to the insect populations, though how long it will take for them to recover between sprays would need to be determined, too. More Top Deals Memorial Day security camera deals: Reolink's unbeatable sale has prices from $29.98 See the
