Pollinator Power: Nutrition Security Benefits of an Ecosystem Service

Wendee Nicole has written for Discover, Scientific American, and other publications. Background image: © lightpoet/Shutterstock About This Article open Citation: Nicole W. 2015. Pollinator power: nutrition security benefits of an ecosystem service. Environ Health Perspect 123:A210–A215; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.123-A210 News Topics: Agriculture and Farming, Diet and Nutrition, Ecology and Wildlife, Food Security, Health Disparities, International Environmental Health Published: 1 August 2015 PDF Version (4.3 MB) It’s well known that pollinators affect crop yields and thus market prices. New studies are showing they can affect the nutritional value of foods, too. © Konrad Wothe/Minden Pictures/Corbis The world has been abuzz with the dramatic losses of cultivated honey bees due to colony collapse disorder1 as well as declines of native pollinator species across the globe.2,3,4 Scientists have recently begun calculating the extent to which food crops depend on animal pollinators including bees, butterflies, and bats,5 with one study assigning an economic value to the “ecosystem service” provided by pollinators at approximately $167 billion.6 Even more recently, several other new studies have offered evidence that pollinators may also have a beneficial impact on nutrition security—the availability of essential macro- and micronutrients in the human diet.7,8,9 “It’s really well known that pollination changes the yields of crops and the economi...
Source: EHP Research - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Featured Focus News Agriculture and Farming August 2015 Diet and Nutrition Ecology and Wildlife Food Security Health Disparities International Environmental Health Source Type: research