Forum > Bio-Diversity > Contribution of Pollinator-Mediated Crops to Nutrients in the Human Food Supply

Posted by Susan Sharma on August 22, 2011

 

"The contribution of nutrients from animal pollinated world crops has not previously been evaluated as a biophysical measure for the value of pollination services. This study evaluates the nutritional composition of animal-pollinated world crops. We calculated pollinator dependent and independent proportions of different nutrients of world crops, employing FAO data for crop production, USDA data for nutritional composition, and pollinator dependency data according to Klein et al. (2007). Crop plants that depend fully or partially on animal pollinators contain more than 90% of vitamin C, the whole quantity of Lycopene and almost the full quantity of the antioxidants β-cryptoxanthin and β-tocopherol, the majority of the lipid, vitamin A and related carotenoids, calcium and fluoride, and a large portion of folic acid. Ongoing pollinator decline may thus exacerbate current difficulties of providing a nutritionally adequate diet for the global human population."

Citation: Eilers EJ, Kremen C, Smith Greenleaf S, Garber AK, Klein A-M (2011) Contribution of Pollinator-Mediated Crops to Nutrients in the Human Food Supply. PLoS ONE 6(6): e21363. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021363

Read more at

#PLoS: Contribution of Pollinator-Mediated Crops to Nutrients in the Human Food Supply http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0021363

Share this post:

Post your Comment


Download IWC Android app     IWC Android app



Copyright © 2001 - 2024 Indian Wildlife Club. All Rights Reserved. | Terms of Use

Website developed and managed by Alok Kaushik