Giving flowers to someone this Valentine’s Day? It turns out that your sweetheart’s bouquet will smell nicer thanks to global warming. A new study just came out linking rising temperatures in our atmosphere to an increase in flowers’ fragrant chemicals known as biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs). According to the BBC, flowers are already 10% smellier, and that figure may increase 30 to 40% as the world heats up in the coming decades. Global climate change lengthens growing seasons, prolonging the period over which flowers generate their sweet smelling BVOCs, TreeHugger reports.

Flowers will be more fragrant as a result of global warming

On the surface, this seems like a good thing. We might be happy that your Valentine’s bouquets smell nicer, but bees and pollinators aren’t. A more fragrant atmosphere confuses bees, altering plant reproduction and attracting insect pests. In the BBC’s report, one scientist said something that I find particularly daunting: “The increased emissions [of fragrant chemicals] will likely affect physiology and ecology, i.e. the functioning of life.”

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