June 2, 2021
Right before the World Environment Day (celebrated annually on June 5), the Russian media "Ecology of Russia" initiated the ecosystems week to speak about the role of the most vulnerable ecosystems of our country and the planet as a whole. Today we will talk about the ecosystem of the "meadowlands": what role the grass and flowers play in the life of the planet.
Like any other ecosystem, meadowlands need to be restored. They protect humans from floods, are a "home" for rare birds, mammals and amphibians. Meadows literally supply food to humans: in the summer, cattle graze in natural areas, and valuable medicinal herbs grow and bloom here.
Scientists distinguish three types of meadowlands: floodplain, mountain and mainland meadows. Due to the active development of agriculture, the officials, for instance, in Russia, began allocating many meadowlands for ploughing. Because of this, the hydrological behaviour of some rivers has changed.
Meadowlands help the soil to "rest". According to the UN data, the rates of soil degradation all over the world have never been so high. Farming and agriculture have led to reduction of the productivity of 23% of the entire land surface of the planet.
Insects like butterflies, beetles, bees actively inhabit the meadows in summer. Many of them are pollinators of plants. If the insects have to disappear, then the humans will inevitably face a drop in food diversity. People will have to forget about apples, cucumbers, most spices and berries.
for the past few years, scientists have had to speak seriously about the disappearance of bees. Experts bring several reasons: the treatment of fields with pesticides, various diseases and climate change.
"The problem of extinction of bees is of great importance for people, because bees are the main pollinators of agricultural crops. The extinction of bees primarily means extinction of honeybees. We know very little about wild bees, but they also suffer because of deforestation, changes of their habitat. Pesticides not only cause death of bees, they also weaken their immunity due to toxic substances, which means they are vulnerable to ticks and viruses," commented Ilya Gomyranov, zoologist, an employee of the Skoltech's Centre for Open Education.
The expert said that Europeans must be seriously concerned with the problem of the disappearance of bees. But, for instance, in Russia and China they are paying much less attention to this issue.
"Pesticides are necessary for the destruction of harmful insects, but in parallel, useful insects are also affected. This is closely interconnected not only with humans, we can be left without buckwheat, sunflower, wild plants. The crop harvest will be reduced, the population of rodents and insects will reduce, which also means reduction of population of mammals. This will cause disruption of the biological balance," - added Ravshan Mukimov, a Russian beekeeper.
Source: https://ecologyofrussia.ru/ekosistema-luga-pchely/
Translated by Mehiddin Ganiev