Higher Levels of Ultrafine Dust Prevent Bees from Finding Flowers | Be Korea-savvy

Higher Levels of Ultrafine Dust Prevent Bees from Finding Flowers


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DAEJEON, Feb. 4 (Korea Bizwire)Higher concentrations of ultrafine dust levels affect not only humans, but also bees, obstructing their efforts to find flowers.

The National Institute of Forest Science, in tandem with a research team from Seoul National University, conducted a study on bees and their time of flight before and after the outbreak of yellow dust, which showed that a 1 microgram per cubic meter (㎍/㎥) increase in the concentration level of ultrafine dust increases a bee’s flight span by 32 minutes.

In the study, a bee’s average flight span in a non-yellow dust environment was 45 minutes. When ultrafine dust levels rose by 1 ㎍/㎥, the flight span extended to 77 minutes.

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Even when the yellow dust had passed, bees failed to fully recover, flying around 70 percent longer than during the pre-yellow dust period.

The study has become the world’s first scientific evidence that there is a strong correlation between the increase in the concentration level of ultrafine dust, regardless of yellow dust, and the flight span of bees, the institute explained.

Image Credit: National Institute of Forest Science / Public Domain / photonews@koreabizwire.com

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