SEATTLE, June 27 (UPI) -- For years, regulators have tried to curb car and truck exhaust to promote healthier lungs and a cleaner environment. But new research suggests vehicle fumes do more than warm the planet and encourage asthma. They also mask the smells of crops and flowers, disorienting pollinators, like moths, in search of food.
Moths, butterflies, bees, and other pollinators are attracted to the floral sweet smells of all kids of flowers. But their olfactory sensors of moths are activated by all kinds of intense smells, say researchers from the University of Washington and University of Arizona. And background scents, like those from exhaust pipes of cars idling in rush hour traffic, make the flowers harder to find.