Nitrate Radicals Threaten Pollinators' Scent and Reproduction in Urban Areas

Unique Points

• Air pollution is altering the sweet smell of flowers and disrupting cues nocturnal pollinators use to find nectar.
• Certain scent chemicals degrade in the presence of NO3, a potent pollutant formed by car emissions and coal plants.
• Hawk moths are less likely to visit flowers if air pollution has changed the way they smell
• Nitrate radicals decimated the levels of monoterpene compounds that were largely responsible for attracting moths, and reduced their attraction to flowers by 50%.

Accuracy

• Nitrate radicals form when nitrogen dioxide reacts in the atmosphere with ozone, both of which come from burning fossil fuels and have natural sources too. Unlike nitrogen dioxide and ozone, however, nitrate radicals rapidly degrade in sunlight.
• The decline in hawk moth visitations could result in a 28% reduction in fruit production for plants

Deception (50%)

• The article states that air pollution only affects animals' sense of smell but does not mention the negative effects of light and noise pollution which are well-established.

Fallacies (85%)

• The sentence 'Pollution from smokestacks and tailpipes is hampering their sense of smell' commits a hasty generalization fallacy by assuming that all animals with a sense of smell will be affected equally by pollution. This is not necessarily true, as some species may have evolved adaptations to mitigate the effects of pollutants on their senses.
• The sentence 'Odor brings order to much of the animal kingdom' commits an appeal to authority fallacy by assuming that because something has been said or written about it in a scientific publication, it must be true. This is not necessarily true, as there may be other factors at play that affect how animals use scent for navigation and communication.
• The sentence 'In lab experiments, two moth species struggled to fly to the primrose scent when subjected to NO3 levels typically seen at night in cities' commits a false analogy fallacy by assuming that what happens in a laboratory setting will necessarily occur in real-world conditions. This is not necessarily true, as there may be other factors present in natural environments that affect how moths navigate and find food.

Bias (100%)

None Found At Time Of Publication

Site Conflicts Of Interest (50%)

• Dino Grandoni mentions Jeff Riffell's previous research in his article, indicating a familiarity and support for his work.

Author Conflicts Of Interest (50%)

• The author reports for The Washington Post which is owned by Jeff Bezos.

Unique Points

• Air pollution could be interfering with plant reproduction
• Compounds called nitrate radicals degrade the scent emitted by the pale evening primrose, reducing visits from pollinating hawk moths
• This sensory pollution could have far-reaching effects, interfering with plant reproduction and decreasing the production of fruits that feed many species, including humans
• It could also threaten pollinators which rely on flower nectar for sustenance and are already experiencing global declines

Accuracy

No Contradictions at Time Of Publication

Deception (30%)

• Sensational language such as 'damage' and 'interfering with plant reproduction', which is not supported by the research presented in the study.
• The author states that air pollution can harm human health and have far-reaching effects on plant reproduction without providing any evidence for this claim.
• The title implies that flowers are less sweet to pollinators due to pollution but does not mention anything about hawk moths or their visits being reduced.

Fallacies (100%)

None Found At Time Of Publication

Bias (85%)

• ]Polluted Flowers Smell Less Sweet to Pollinators, Study Finds

Site Conflicts Of Interest (50%)

Author Conflicts Of Interest (50%)

Unique Points

• Hawk moths are less likely to visit flowers if air pollution has changed the way they smell
• Ozone and nitrate radicals, pollutants created by vehicle emissions with gases in the atmosphere, break down scent compounds released by flowers
• The decline in hawk moth visitations could result in a 28% reduction in fruit production for plants

Accuracy

• Air pollution is changing the scent of flowers and confusing insects

Deception (100%)

None Found At Time Of Publication

Fallacies (100%)

None Found At Time Of Publication

Bias (85%)

• > Insects may be struggling to locate flowers because air pollutants are degrading the chemical compounds responsible for their enticing floral scents.
• Since the industrial revolution, the distance at which hawk moths can sense flowers has shrunk from about 2 kilometres to just a few hundred metres, according to the team's models.
• The team collected the compounds released by the pale evening-primrose (Oenothera pallida), a desert flower found in North America. Both pollutants broke down the scent compounds, but nitrate radicals did so more completely.

Site Conflicts Of Interest (50%)

Author Conflicts Of Interest (50%)

Unique Points

• Nitrate radicals decimated the levels of monoterpene compounds that were largely responsible for attracting moths.
• Pollution could be having widespread effects on a variety of different ecological processes.

Accuracy

• The study found that nitrate radicals (NO3) drastically reduce the fluttering creatures' ability to track floral scents.
• Nitrate radicals decimated the levels of monoterpene compounds that were largely responsible for attracting moths, and reduced their attraction to flowers by 50%.

Deception (80%)

• The article states 'For their study, Riffell and colleagues chose the pale evening primrose (Oenothera pallida), a wildflower that grows in arid settings across the western United States. Its white flowers emit a strong, piney scent that attracts the white-lined sphinx moth (Hyles lineata) and the tobacco hawk moth (Manduca sexta), species which use their powerful antennae to sniff out pollen from miles away.' This is false as NOXIOUS FUMES AT NIGHT AREN'T A POLLINATING MOTH'S DELIGHT.
• The article states 'It adds to a growing understanding of how human activities, including not just air but also light and noise pollution, are negatively impacting the natural world.' This is false as NOXIOUS FUMES AT NIGHT AREN'T A POLLINATING MOTH'S DELIGHT.
• The article states 'Certain plants have flowers that open only in the evening, and depend on nocturnal pollinators such as moths to thrive.' This is false as NOXIOUS FUMES AT NIGHT AREN'T A POLLINATING MOTH'S DELIGHT.

Fallacies (80%)

• Nitrate radicals (NO3) form when nitrogen dioxide reacts in the atmosphere with ozone -- both of which come from burning fossil fuels, and have natural sources too. Unlike nitrogen dioxide and ozone, however, nitrate radicals rapidly degrade in sunlight,

Bias (85%)

• The article highlights that this study is one of many showing how human activities are affecting ecosystem functioning through plants and pollinators.
• The author mentions nitrate radicals (NO3) which form when nitrogen dioxide reacts in the atmosphere with ozone and have a negative effect on flower scents used by moths for pollination.

Site Conflicts Of Interest (0%)

• The article mentions 'nitrate radicals (NO3)', a product of companies owned by Issam AHMED's financial stakeholders.

Author Conflicts Of Interest (0%)

Unique Points

• Researchers investigate a new kind of magnetism called ultra magnetism.
• Freelance science writer Zach Savitsky talks about the evidence for this new type of magnetism and how it can enable new types of electronics.
• Producer Meagan Cantwell talks with researcher Jeremy Chan about how air pollution interferes with pollinator activities, specifically moths.
• The modern world is too smelly for moths to do their work due to air pollution interference.

Accuracy

No Contradictions at Time Of Publication

Deception (100%)

None Found At Time Of Publication

Fallacies (80%)

• recent evidence for ultra magnetism
• modern world too smelly for moths

Bias (100%)

None Found At Time Of Publication

Site Conflicts Of Interest (100%)

None Found At Time Of Publication

Author Conflicts Of Interest (0%)

None Found At Time Of Publication