- A51K-0874: Stink, Stank, Stunk: Persistent floral emissions from a corpse flower reveal efficient pollution techniques highly impacted by air pollution
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Board 0874‚ Hall EFG (Poster Hall)NOLA CC
Author(s):Generic 'disconnected' Message
Rose Rossell, Colorado State University (First Author, Presenting Author)
Mj Riches, Colorado State University
Abigail Koss, Tofwerk USA
Delphine Farmer, Colorado State University
Tammy Brenner, Colorado State University
The corpse plant uses foul-smelling flowers to attract carrion insects as pollinators. The blooms are very rare, only occurring once to twice a decade, and less than 1000 plants remain in the wild. When the corpse plant at Colorado State University bloomed in May 2024, we studied the plant over two nights to learn more about their smelly flowers. The first night, the plant emitted mostly sulfur compounds, infamous for their rotten-egg smell, at the same concentration as landfills. We estimate that the plant emitted ~0.4% of its total body weight: if the plant weighed 100 lbs, it emitted almost 4 lbs as these molecules. In clean air, like its natural ecosystem, these odors can last for hours so plants can attract far-away insects. However, in polluted air, the plants struggle to get pollinated as the chemicals react away very quickly. Regulating air pollution is thus important to protect important ecosystems, native pollinators, and stinky flowers.
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