By Alden Woods
Biodiversity loss is directly threatening human health and welfare, according to new research by a multi-institution team including the University of Washington. The study, published May 6 in Nature, reveals for the first time how the decline of insect pollinators undermines essential ecosystem services that support human nutrition and livelihoods.
It’s been long known that insect pollinators are vital for producing many of the fruits, vegetables and legumes that supply essential vitamins and minerals in our diets, yet clear evidence of how their decline affects people has been limited.
Working in 10 smallholder farming villages and their surrounding landscapes in Nepal, researchers traced the full chain of connections between wild pollinators, crop yields and the nutrients families rely on. By tracking diets, crop nutrients and the insects visiting those crops over a year, the research team showed how pollinators directly support both nutrition and livelihoods.
“This study directly connects the crops that local pollinators visit with people’s diets, nutrition and income,” said Matt Smith, a research scientist in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the UW. “It was a real collaborative effort across many partners to collect and analyze a large body of data, making it possible to explore these links.”
Source : washington.edu