Scientists Call for Better Understanding of Pollination Science

Scientists at the German University of Göttingen published an article in Trends in Plant Science that highlights the roles that pollinator behavior and plant species distribution play in fruit quality. The authors suggest that focusing merely on the promoting the number of pollinators for crops overlooks how the specifics of pollination can factor into the nutritional, sensory, and commercial value of those crops. They say that the the pollinator species, the crop variety, and the pollen that is transferred all factor into the quality of the resultant crop, although exactly how this happens is poorly understood and should be the subject of future research.