What comes to mind when you hear the word “pollination?” For many, flashes of honey bees and some average flowers come to mind, and maybe even the recent “Save the Bees” movement gives you a greater perspective on how important pollination is from an ecological and anthropocentric standpoint. This complex interaction has far reaching effects on communities, both ecological and humanly, all around the world, for pollination by animals accounts for the reproduction of eighty-five percent of the world’s flowering plants (Ollerton, Winfree, & Tarrant, 2011). Without biotic pollination, those plants would seldom reproduce and soon become extinct, having huge impacts on the environments they’re found in and on humans, who rely on animal pollinators …show more content…
Certain plant species rely totally on just one species pollinator, or a pollinator completely on a plant, in what is called specialization. A one-on-one mutualism is rare to find, but when one does occur, the species run a risk. Humans often learn the popularized idiom advising against “putting all of your eggs in one basket,” and this idea can apply to plants and pollinators who count on the existence of just one other species as well. One specific example of a specialized interaction is a yucca moth and yuccas. Both species depend on the population of the other; the yucca on the moth for pollination and reproduction, and the moths on the yuccas for a place to lay their eggs and for their larvae to thrive (Waser & Forrest, 2014). In another case, a species of solitary bee, commonly called the poppy-loving bee, will faithfully only visit bearclaw poppies despite their dwindling population (Buchmann & Nabhan, 1997). Admittedly, most plants who practice biotic pollination and many pollinators are generalists, or they seek to attract a plethora of animals to pollinate their flowers, and these cases of codependence are extreme. Nevertheless, they provide a hyperbolic example that shows how important biodiversity in pollination webs can …show more content…
As briefly mentioned, most plant-pollinator networks are diverse webs that reveal a large number of interactions between different species. For plants, animal pollinators can have reproductive advantages over abiotic pollination for several reasons. When animals move from flower to flower collecting nectar and pollen, they give plants a greater chance of cross-pollination, or when one flower is pollinated with the pollen from a different, closely-related plant (Waser & Forrest, 2014). This act increases the genetic variation of the plant, which can lead to physical diversification, a gene pool less prone to extinction, and even to the development new species of plants! Thus, with an increase in the number of pollinators, flowers will have a greater chance of receiving pollen from many different plants as there are more intersections in the pollination webs. Furthermore, from an evolutionary perspective, it is suggested by studies that floral diversity comes from the work of animal pollinators (Waser & Forrest, 2014). Increasing the world’s biodiversity only strengthens the dynamic life force of Earth and makes extinctions less
There are two special populations portrayed in The Secret Life of Bees: African Americans and women. August, June, and May Boatwright along with Rosaleen are all African-American women. Other main characters such as Lily Owens and Zach Taylor fit into one special population but not both.
Think for a moment of a world without bees; a world without our buzzing friend. They might look like they barely do much to help our ecosystem. However, bees are a vital part of our agriculture and this makes it vital that we keep them around. The bee population decline in recent years is troubling for both us and our little friends. As their friends, we must do all we can in order to ensure their survival which in turn will ensure our own.
Humans have long recognized that flowers are an indication of future fruits. Therefore it was vital for nomadic hunters to remember where in the wild they saw flowers. And further yet each type of flower produced a specific fruit. Thus fruits and flowers had something in common; the preference of one fruit meant the preference of a type of flower. Most often, as in modern times, the most healthy looking flower shows signs that it will produce quality fruit. The beauty of a flower told hunters that a nutritious fruits would ripen after the flowers bloomed. This concept explains how we have evolved toward preferring healthy looking flowers. But how does this explain the security of a plants reproduction? It is necessary to mention that plants not only produce fruits to stop herbivores from eating the plant, but in their own diabolic plan, plants found a new way to spread their seeds through fruits. Herbivores would eat the fruits an...
All around the world honeybees are vanishing at an alarming rate, according to the documentary Vanishing of the Honeybees. This film features two commercial bee keepers and their fight to preserve their bee numbers. David Hackenburg was the first commercial bee keeper to go public the bee population was decreasing. Approximately two billions bees have vanished and nobody knows the reason why. Honeybees are used all across America to help pollinate monoculture crops like broccoli, watermelon, cherries, and other produce. Without the honeybees the price for fresh and local produce would be too much money. According, to this film commercial bee keeper’s help fifteen billion dollars of food get pollinated by commercial
Our livestock depend on bee-pollinated plants like grain. Poorly pollinated plants produce fewer fruits and seeds, leading to higher prices (New Agriculturist, n.d.). Some crops are entirely dependent on pollinators such as almonds and others are 90 percent dependent on blueberries and cherries (ABF, 2015). Bees give us honey and we use this honey in food, shampoo, and moisturizers (Mercola, 2015). Bees pollinate 70 out of our 100 major crops; that includes apples, cucumbers, pumpkins, and many more.
Others include birds, butterflies, and the wind; however, honey bees, by far, are the best at pollinating plants. Collecting pollen is their whole life’s purpose, according to Michigan State University’s article, “Native Plants and Ecosystem Services”. Over one hundred forty three million acres of plants in America are sprayed with a bee-killing insecticide that has been banned in Europe by the European Food Safety Authority (Sarich). Promote ecological farming, and ban all bee-harming pesticides.
Flowering plants have two main reproductive parts; the male part is called the stamen and produces pollen, while the female part is called the pistil. For pollination to occur, the pollen must be transferred from the stamen to the pistil. This transfer can occasionally be caused by wind, but it is most often facilitated by animals called pollinators. Pollinators do not intentionally set out to fertilize flowers; rather, they unintentionally spread pollen while roaming from plant to plant in search of food. There are many different species – including birds, butterflies, and bats – that act as pollinators, and many of these species are also suffering declines in population. However, honeybees are the most pr...
The Apis Mellifera, or honey bee, have survived on this planet for fifty million years. This species of bee is responsible for pollinating flowers, grass, trees and crops around the world. Much of the food we eat is dependent on honey bees for pollination. Our ecosystem depends on the survival of the honey bee. Colonies of honeybees have been disappearing at an alarming rate around the world due to parasites, viral and bacterial diseases, and the introduction of pesticides and herbicides. Over the past six years, on average, 30 percent of all the honey bee colonies in the U.S. died off over the winter of 2012(NPR/TED). If this trend continues to spiral downward, honey bees will disappear from the world. We must understand the importance of the Honey bee and change our environmental practices in order to sustain this vital insect.
Active pollinators participate in a specific mode of collecting pollen from within the fig fruit and then transport it out. Passive pollination however occurs when the wasp does not change behavior in any way to collect pollen; instead the fig fruit produces enough pollen to cover the wasp in pollen prior to exiting the fig. In actively pollinated fig species pollen transfer entirely depends on wasp morphology and specialized pollinating behavior. Female wasps scratch out pollen and store it in specialized thoracic pollen packets (Galil & Snitzer-Pasternak, 1970). When wasps enters fig, they transfer pollen grains and oviposit at the same time in ovaries (Galil & Snitzer-Pasternak, 1970). Depending on what kind of pollinators it has, fig species differs in pollen production (Jander, Charlotte & Herre, 2010). Passively pollinated fig species produce numerous, large male flowers that release abundant pollen onto the wasps as they leave the fig to disperse. Therefore, in these fig species, trees invest considerable resources in producing abundant pollen. They do not rely on pollinators to conduct any special behavior (Jander, Charlotte & Herre, 2010). On the other side, in active pollination, the fig does not have to invest as much energy. Therefore they produce a smaller number of male flowers that are also smaller in size (Jander, Charlotte & Herre,
Pollinators are very important to the environment because many plant species rely on reproduction to be carried out by pollination1. Bees are dependent on plants for pollen and nectar and in return, are the most common pollinator of plant species and around 90 percent of plants require pollination by an animal7. Bees are used in farming, both for pollinating crops and for producing honey, and the estimated value of bees to the United Kingdom is £400 million per year9. Plants are the primary producers in many food webs and, as so many are dependent on pollination in order to reproduce, a decline in pollinators would have a detrimental effect on whole ecosystems. Therefore, the declining numbers of pollinators, particularly bees, are a cause of concern because of the environmental knock-on effects.
The relationships between plants and pollinators play a key role in our ecosystems. Pollinators are animals, such as bees, butterflies, moths, bats, flies, wasps, and birds, that transfer pollen from one flower to another. Pollination is the movement of pollen to the male or female part of the plant. This leads to fertilization and the production of seeds and flowers. They maintain and establish ecosystems. “Pollinators are an integral part of our environment and our agricultural systems; they are important in 35% of global crop production” (NCRS 2013). “Pollinator declines can result in loss of pollination services which have important negative ecological and economic impacts that could significantly affect the maintenance of wild plant diversity,
Insect pollination as we all know, is the process that enables reproduction and fertilization by the transfer of pollen performed by insects. Insects are some of the oldest pollinators of plants. Pollinating insects date back to 140 million years ago. Since then, due to how effective insect pollinators are, these flowering plants have become the major group of terrestrial vascular plants. Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms, have imperative roles within our ecosystems, both natural and agricultural. For instance, insects provide food, fiber and shelter for wildlife and humankind alike (2007). It is commonly know that in humans, high levels of fruit and vegetable consumption are associated with decreased risk of chronic disease (Calderone 2012). Aside from these important roles, plants have also been considered as a viable option for fuel sources (Calderone 2012). There are around 300,00 species of flowering plants in the world and without pollination, the reproductive process would be very difficult since pollination causes the production of seeds (Calderone 2012). Of the 300,000 plant species worldwide, a little over 3,000 of these plants have been used as a source of food. Close to 300 of these species are grown around the world today and only 12 of these plants make up about 90 percent of the food sources in our world. These 12 include the grains...
Over the past decade bee populations have been dropping drastically. A 40% loss of honeybees happened in the U.S. and U.K. lose 45% of its commercial honeybee since 2010. This is a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in which worker bees from a beehive abruptly disappear in a short time. These data are definitely not meaningless since bees are a crucial part of the reproductive cycle of many foods. The impact bees have on the agriculture and the environment is far more crucial than we may think. Crops rely on bees to assist their reproduction and bring them life. Bees are renowned in facilitating pollination for most plant life, including over 100 different vegetable and fruit crops. Without bees, there would be a huge decrease in pollination, which later result in reduce in plant growth and food supplies. On the other hand, without the pollination progressed with the assistance from bees, the types of flowers According to Dr. Albert Einstein, “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination…no more men”. That’s why bees’ extinction affects people more than we ever think, and could even forebode the doom day of human race.
Biodiversity is so important that if any chain or link is disturbed then the whole system will come to a halt. Biodiversity also boosts ecosystem productivity and if it declines automatically our ecosystem also declines as both are interdependent upon each other, where all the species play an essential role in the way ecosystem functions, so local and global species loss could threaten the stability of the ecosystem services on which humans depend. This is an interesting topic as well as a global issue concerning the whole human civilization and their existence. . The said issue as well as many other issues regarding our natural processes cannot be neglected as our present and future depends entirely on the sustainability and growth of this ecosystem and biodiversity. Our ecosystem completely depends on the way biodiversity functions. This is the reason I have chosen this topic and gathered information about how it e...
NEED AND PURPOSE FOR CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY: Biodiversity, a contraction of “biological diversity,” generally refers to the variety and variability of life on Earth. The very existence of human species and sustainable development depend on biodiversity conservation, therefore the need for conservation of biodiversity is basically for this reason that all living creatures need other creatures and plants in one way or the other. At least 40 per cent of the world’s economy and 80 per cent of the needs of the poor are mainly derived from biological resources. Biodiversity is necessary for our existence as well as valuable in its own right as it provides the fundamental building blocks for the many goods and services which are essential