User:CDoris-Bio341/sandbox

Possible Topics
In the article Fruit, it was suggested in the talk page that the article should be split up into one that focuses more on the botany and the other on the agriculture of fruit. I would pursue the botany of fruit and add more detail. While looking through the article I thought more could be added about the structure of fruit.

I would also be able to expand on the biological function of conifer cones. In the talk page, someone thought the function of the cones should be explored.

From the WikiProject Plants page I found that an article still needs to be created for plant-animal interactions. I thought it would be interesting to research.

Selected Topic:

Looking through some different sources made me decide to focus in on how humans effect plant-animal interactions. However, there were many examples so I'm not sure exactly how to structure the article. I may describe the importance of plant-animal interactions, the different interactions that can occur, and the various ways they effect each other in the beginning of the article, then go into the various ways humans effect the environment relevant to these interactions, and finally describe the examples I found.

Improving an existing article?
I have realized that plant-animal interactions is too broad to be a single article and decided to expand on the Pollination article. In article has done well in providing general explanations of topics within pollination. However, there is a section named environmental impacts, which is pretty short because it just states that there have been effects on pollinators and their interactions but it does not state how or why. So I will add to that by using the different examples of the effects of human disturbances on pollination I have found. I also did not find any suggestions for this sections on the talk page.
 * Pollinator decline
 * Explain how pollinator decline can disturb seed dispersal and the fitness of different plant species
 * Describe how pollination is necessary for plant regeneration
 * Example of a pollinator that is disturbed
 * Butterflies
 * Economic and Food security

Draft: Environmental impacts /w Revisions
Loss of pollinators, also known as Pollinator decline (of which colony collapse disorder is perhaps the most well known) has been noticed in recent years. These loss of pollinators have caused a disturbance in early plant regeneration processes such as seed dispersal and of course, pollination. Early processes of plant regeneration greatly depend on plant-animal interactions and because these interactions are interrupted, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning are threatened. Pollination by animals aids in the genetic variability and diversity within plants because they allow for out-crossing instead for self-crossing. Without this genetic diversity there would be a lack of traits for natural selection to act on for the survival of the plant species. Seed dispersal is also important for plant fitness because it allows plants the ability to expand their populations. More than that, it permits plants to escape environments that have changed and have become difficult to reside in. All of these factors show the importance of pollinators for plants, which are the foundation for a stable ecosystem. If only a few species of plants depended on pollinators the overall effect would not be as devastating however, this is not the case. It is known that more than 87.5% of angiosperms, over 75% of tropical tree species, and 30-40% of tree species in temperate regions depend on pollination and seed dispersal.

Possible explanations for pollinator decline include habitat destruction, pesticide, parasitism/diseases, and climate change. It has also been found that the more destructive forms of human disturbances are land use changes such as fragmentation, selective logging, and the conversion to secondary forest habitat. Defaunation of frugivores has also been found to be an important driver. These alterations are especially harmful due to the sensitivity of the pollination process of plants. There is was a study done on tropical palms and the researchers concluded that defaunation has caused a decline in seed dispersal, which causes a decrease in genetic variability in this species. Habitat destruction such as fragmentation and selective logging remove area that are most optimal for the different types of pollinators, which removes pollinators food resources, nesting sites, and leads to isolation of populations. The effect of pesticides on pollinators has been debated due to the difficulty to be confident that a single pesticide is the cause and not a mixture or other threats. It is also not know if exposure alone causes damages, or if the duration and potency are also factors. However, insecticides do have some negative effects, such as neonicotinoids that harm bee colonies. Many researchers believe it is the synergistic effects of these factors which are ultimately detrimental to pollinator populations.

Examples of affected pollinators
The most known and understood pollinator, bees, have been used as the prime example of the decline in pollinators. Bees are essential in the pollination of agricultural crops and wild plants and are one of the main insects that perform this task. Out of the bees species, the honey bee or Apis mellifera has been studied the most and in the United States, there has been a loss of 59% of colonies from 1947 to 2005. The decrease in populations of the honey bee have been attributed to pesticides, genetically modified crops, fragmentation, parasites and diseases that have been introduced. There has been a focus on neonicotinoids effects on honey bee populations. Neonicotinoids insecticides have been used due to its low mammalian toxicity, target specificity, low application rates, and broad spectrum activity. However, the insecticides are able to make its way throughout the plant, which includes the pollen and nectar. Due to this, it has been shown to effect on the nervous system and colony relations in the honey bee populations.

Butterflies are another example of pollinators that have suffered due to these modifications. Butterflies are helpful ecological indicators since they are sensitive to changes within the environment like the season, altitude, and above all, human conversions to the environment. Research has shown that butterfly populations were higher within the natural forest and were lower in open land. The reason for the difference in density is the fact that in open land the butterflies would be exposed to desiccation and predation. These open regions are caused by habitat destruction like logging for timber, livestock grazing, and firewood collection. Due to this destruction, butterfly species' diversity can decrease and it is known that there is a correlation in butterfly diversity and plant diversity. This shows how the activity of humans can directly decrease pollinator populations and thus harm the fitness of native plant species.

Food security and pollinator decline
Besides the imbalance of the ecosystem caused by the decline in pollinators, it may have an impact on food security. Pollination is necessary for plants to continue their populations and 3/4 of the world's food supply are plants that require pollinators. Insect pollinators, like bees, are large contributors to crop production, over 200 billion dollars worth of crop species are pollinated by these insects. Pollinators are also essential because they improve crop quality and increase genetic diversity, which is necessary in producing fruit with nutritional value and various flavors. Crops that do not depend on animals for pollination but on the wind or self-pollination, like corn and potatoes, have doubled in production and make up a large part of the human diet but do not provide the micronutrients that are needed. The essential nutrients that are necessary in the human diet are present in plants that rely on animal pollinators. There have been issues in vitamin and mineral deficiencies and it is believed that if pollinator populations continue to decrease these deficiencies will become even more prominent. Thus, it is clear that this pollinator decline would be damaging to human food supply and nutrition. The possibility of pollinator extinction, however, is still debated because labeling it as a crisis may be premature. It has also been suggested that other species may still be able to pollinate plants even if the original pollinators are gone. Despite this, there is strong evidence that the pollination of plants has declined due to the distress of pollinators.