The news this week is all about financial trouble, and even
science can’t escape. Often when a species is in trouble, their
plight tugs only at the heartstrings of people who want to save
them; polar bears are of little practical use to us. But colony
collapse disorder, which has been wrecking bee populations
around the world, goes right to our wallets. In a new study,
French and German scientists calculated that pollinators are
worth about $217 billion to the world economy, which would be
lost if bees and other pollinators keep disappearing. Since not
all plants are pollinated by insects, the disappearance of
pollinators wouldn’t mean the sudden disappearance of all
agriculture (thankfully). The scientists say that their estimate
for pollinators’ value amounts to 9.5 percent of the world’s
total agricultural production. But, they say, insect-pollinated
plants tend to have higher prices than other plants, meaning
their loss would hit economies especially hard. In sum, about
three-quarters of flowering plants