Tag Archives: flowers

Fossils from the Oligocene Cycle Reveal Pollination Interactions Between Flowers and Marchalace

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Paleontologists have examined fossilized flowers and bees dating back 24 million years, following the scarcity in Enspel, Germany, and unveiled new species of Linden. These include Tilia Magna Separa and two newly identified bumblebee species, Bombos (Chrono Bombos) Mesegas and Timebombus Palaeocrater. The presence of identical tyria pollen in both the flowers and on the outer surfaces of the bumblebees serves as direct evidence of their interactions, identifying Bombos as a pollinator of Tyria. At least due to the late decline, we remain anchored in the present.

Tilia Magna Separa. Image credit: Christian Geier.

“We analyzed countless fossil flowers and insect pollens in hopes of understanding the evolution of flowers, their visitors, and the pollination process,” stated Dr. Friðgeir Grímsson, a researcher at the University of Vienna.

“These microscopic pollen grains were made visible using UV and blue light, and then extracted individually from flower or insect hair, or aggregated from insects, with the aid of extremely thin needles and minimal invasive techniques.”

The pollen grains underwent careful washing and were analyzed using high-resolution light and electron microscopes.

Many of the flowers studied originated from Linden trees, with numerous bumblebees visiting Linden flowers prior to their fossilization in an ancient volcanic crater lake.

“The newly identified linden flower has been named Tilia Magna Separa,” said Christian Geier, a doctoral student at the University of Vienna.

“Additionally, two new bumblebee species have been identified: Bombos (Chrono Bombos) Mesegas and Bombos (Time Bombos) Pereoctor.”

The fossils were uncovered during the excavation of lake sediments from the former volcanic lake near Enspel in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

“Tilia Magna Separa marks the first recorded flowers from the European continent, characterized and described as per pollenological standards—the science of pollen,” the researchers noted.

“The fossil bumblebees rank among the oldest representatives of their genus, with only one species from Colorado, USA, predating them.”

“This is the first instance globally where a fossil flower and its pollinator bee have been described arising from the same deposits, with pollen linking them directly,” Geier remarked.

“Such research holds significant potential to enhance our understanding of past pollinator dynamics.”

The Fossil Record offers insights into the evolutionary developments of the past, revealing changes due to climate shifts, species extinction, and evolutionary adaptation.

By analyzing fossilized animal and plant groups, we can infer their behaviors and reactions to environmental changes.

“Our research allowed us to identify specific flower homeostasis among the bumblebees studied,” Geier explained.

“This indicates that they tend to visit only one type of plant during a single flight.”

“These findings are crucial for gaining a deeper understanding of the delicate interactions and resilience within today’s ecosystems.”

The study was published today in the journal New Botanist.

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Christian Gayer et al. 24 million years of pollination interaction between European linden flowers and bumble bees. New Botanist, published online on September 22, 2025. doi: 10.1111/nph.7053

Source: www.sci.news

Can AI Comprehend Flowers Without Touching or Smelling Them?

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If you can’t smell, what are flowers?

ClearViewimages RF/Alamy

The newest artificial intelligence models demonstrate a comprehension of the world akin to human understanding. Yet, their sensory limitations hinder their grasp of concepts like flowers and humor.

Qihui Xu from Ohio State and her team explored the understanding of nearly 4,500 words by both humans and large-scale language models (LLMs), covering terms such as “flowers,” “hooves,” “humorous,” and “swings.” Both human participants and AI models evaluated these words based on emotional arousal and physical interactions associated with various body parts.

The objective was to analyze how LLMs, such as OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, along with Google’s Palm and Gemini, compared with human rankings. While both humans and AI exhibited similar concept maps for words unrelated to sensory interaction, substantial discrepancies arose when it involved physical sensations and actions.

For instance, AI models often suggested that flowers could be perceived through the torso, a notion that most people find peculiar, as they typically enjoy flowers visually or through scent.

The challenge lies in the fact that LLMs develop their understanding from a vast array of text sourced from the internet, which falls short in tackling sensual concepts. “They are fundamentally different from humans,” she explains.

Certain AI models have undergone training using visual data like images and videos alongside text. Researchers have noticed that these models yield results more closely aligned with human evaluations, enhancing the chances that future AI will bridge sensory understanding with human cognition.

“This illustrates that the advantages of multimodal training might surpass expectations. In reality, it seems that one plus one can yield two or more,” states Xu. “In terms of AI advancement, this underscores the significance of developing multimodal models and the necessity of embodying these models.”

Philip Feldman at the University of Maryland in Baltimore County suggests that simulating an AI with a robotic body, exposed to sensorimotor experiences, could greatly enhance its capabilities, but he cautions about the inherent risks of physical harm to others.

Preventing such dangers requires implementing safeguards in robotic actions or opting for softer robots to avoid causing injury during training, warns Feldman, although this approach has its downsides.

“This may distort their perception of the world,” Feldman remarks. “One lesson they might learn is that they can gently bounce objects. [In a real robot with mass] The humanoid robots might believe they can collide with one another at full speed. That could lead to serious issues.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

The scent of flowers is altered by air pollution, confusing insects

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Hawk moths are less likely to visit flowers if air pollution changes their smell.

Image courtesy of Floris van Brugel

Insects may have a hard time finding flowers because air pollutants are breaking down the chemicals responsible for the flowers' attractive scent.

“In recent years, there has been increasing interest in 'sensory pollution,'” he says. Jeff Riffel at the University of Washington in Seattle. This pollution resulting from human activities can change wild animal behavior by changing or introducing new stimuli, he says.

For example, we know that noise pollution affects bird songs and may be linked to an increase in whale strandings. Light pollution, on the other hand, can disorient a variety of animals, including migratory birds and sea turtles.

However, little is known about how human activities affect animals' sense of smell. Riffel and colleagues therefore investigated the effects of anthropogenic pollutants on plant pollinators.

They focused on ozone and nitric acid radicals, which are pollutants produced by the interaction of vehicle exhaust and gases in the atmosphere. Both are known to react with compounds emitted by flowers to change their scent.

The research team discovered pale evening primrose (evening primrose), a desert flower found in North America. Both pollutants degraded aroma compounds, but nitrate radicals did so more completely.

To study whether this led to changes in the behavior of the flowers' main pollinators, the researchers exposed species of hawk moths, including the hawk-moth sphinx.Hyles Lineata), flowers that emit a natural floral scent, or flowers that have been engineered to emit a degraded scent.

Primroses that emitted degraded scents were visited 70% less frequently than flowers that emitted naturally delivered scents. This decline in visitors could affect the hawkmoth's health, Riffel said. Researchers estimate that reduced moth visitation could reduce the amount of fruit plants produce by 28 percent, potentially having ripple effects on the broader ecosystem.

The researchers' models show that since the Industrial Revolution, the distance at which hawk moths can detect flowers has shrunk from about two kilometers to just a few hundred meters.

“This is another reason why we need to switch to energy sources that do not involve combustion,” say team members. Joel Thornton, also at the University of Washington. “Reducing nitrogen oxide emissions would be a win not only for air quality, but also for ecosystem function and agriculture.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com