Experiment confirms that insects play a key role in the
pollination of cultivated plants
A lack of bees and other wild insects to pollinate crop
plants can reduce harvest yields more drastically than a lack of fertilizer or
a failure to provide the crops with sufficient water. When crops are adequately
pollinated, on the other hand, the plants bear more fruit and their nutrient
content changes. These are the findings of an experiment on almond trees
conducted in California by the Freiburg ecologist Prof. Dr. Alexandra-Maria
Klein and her colleagues from the USA. The team published articles presenting
their findings in the journals Plant Biology and PLoS ONE.