Introduction Pollination and Pollinators Pollination, the transfer of pollen from one flower to another, is a keystone process in both human-managed and natural terrestrial ecosystems. Pollination is one of the most important mechanisms in the maintenance and promotion of biodiversity and, in general, life on Earth. It is an ecosystem process that has evolved over millions of years to benefit both flowering plants and pollinators. Pollination is critical for food production and human livelihood and directly links wild ecosystem with agricultural production system. It plays an important role both in our survival and the existence of nearly all ecosystems on earth. Many ecosystems, including many agro-ecosystems, depend on pollinator diversity …show more content…
Cucurbits have been long cultivated and used by man in many ways. They constitute very important items in the diet and occupy a special place in the life and culture of the many ethnic groups (Okoli, 1984). They are grown commercially for their nutritive value. There are about 90 genera and 700 species mainly used as food (Bhattacharyya and Johri, 1998). They are consumed in various forms i.e. salad (cucumber, gherkins, long melon), sweet (ash gourd, pointed gourd), pickles (gherkins) and deserts (melons). Depending upon the species, all parts of the plant namely leaves, roots, shoots, flowers, seeds and immature and mature fruits are used for food. Starch can be extracted from roots and the seeds are a rich source of oils and proteins (Jacks et al., 1972). Some of the cucurbits are also produced for other purposes other than food e.g. fruits of bottle gourd for ornamental purposes, utensils, floats for fish net, musical …show more content…
The cucurbit flowers are usually monoecious i.e. they produce male and female flowers separately at different internodes on the same plant. Male flowers appear on the plants a fortnight earlier than the female flowers. The flowering ratio of male to female is 15:1. The male flowers outnumber the female flowers to ensure an ample supply of pollens throughout the flowering period. The male flowers are produced at the beginning of season and continue to produce throughout the season. The female flower is easily recognized by the presence of a miniature fruit below the female flower. The stigma is receptive throughout the day. In male flowers, anthers dehisce when the corolla expands but the pollens remains on the anther as a sticky
Fruiting heads often remain on trees over winter. Fair seed crops occur every year and bumper crops about every 3 years. The staminate and pistillate of Sweetgum is monoeciouse. The small, greenish flowers bloom from march to early May, depending on latitude and weather conditions. Both the staminate and pistillate flowers occur in heads. The staminate inflorescences are racemes; the solitary pistillate flowers are globose heads that that form the multiple head, 2.5 to 3.8cm in diameter, of small, two-celled capsule. The lustrous green color of the fruiting heads fades to yellow as maturity is reached in September to November. The beaklike capsules open at this time, and the small winged seeds, one or two per capsule, are then readily disseminated by wind. However, the seed balls can be safely collected for seed examination several weeks before ball discoloration occurs without harming the seed. Empty flowers are quit sensitive to cold and often damaged by frost.
...ong, and shorter stalks are 20-100mm long. The flower length from the axils are one to three centimeters long. The optimum flowering time is from May through August. The fruit are pod shaped with seedlings coiled into two to three spirals with a strong net vein three to four millimeters long (montanaplant-life.org).
Seedfolks is a book about family. One day, a little Vietnamese girl named Kim plants some lima beans in a vacant lot in Cleveland to honor her father who was a farmer. A neighbor notices and decides to plant her own plants. Soon, more neighbors notice and do the same. Soon, the vacant lot turns into a community garden. The people of Cleveland have to avoid their differences and come together as a family to make it successful. The book Seedfolks implies that family is the true source of love because almost everybody in the book does something to express their love through the garden. The garden becomes somewhat like a family, and brings the community together.
Chemical pollution into the environment can cause both genotypic and phenotypic changes in many organisms, including humans. More specifically, environmental pollutants like BPA can act as xenoestrogens (estrogen imitators), ultimately affecting hormonal activity and production in an organism. This alteration in activity and production can be termed as endocrine disruption. The endocrine system regulates a variety of processes responsible for growth and development, including gonadal formation and function, digestion, metabolism, sex differentiation, and embryonic development (reviewed by Flint et al., 2012). Chemicals that interfere with the function or structure of the endocrine system can be defined as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2007).
Protect pollinator health by preserving wild habitat. Restore ecological agriculture (ref.) through several bee decline contributing factors, and are still in the process of investigating the effectiveness. Pollination plays a significant role in the food production process, notably for fruits and certain vegetables, and bees, including other pollinators, provide beneficial services to the ecosystem, human nutrition, health and wellbeing.
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.
The pesticides used on flowers and other factors that have contributed to the decrease in the population of bees need to be stopped before this problem goes too far out of reach. This decrease can only be described as Colony Collapse Disorder and it will have severe consequences if it is not controlled. However, we are not the only ones that depend on them but in fact most animals depend on them too. Bees cross-pollinate flowers and plants that are eaten by farm and wild animals.
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.
Then, further consider the effects it will have on themselves as individuals, and society in the future. Throughout both articles there is the use of research, and statistics to solidify the urgency of the decline in bees. Tirado, Simon, and Johnston, use statistics showing us that, “Without insect pollination, about one third of the crops we eat would have to be pollinated by other means, or they would produce significantly less food. Up to 75% of our crops would suffer some decrease in productivity”. The use of percentage validates that the statistics provided are supported by research. Consequently, we know individuals who have attained a higher level of education do research and in today’s society, education is greatly respected, therefore persuading the reader to believe in the information that the article provides. Furthermore, Mangosing underlines the extreme level of which we, as a society rely on pollinators to sustain our sources of food, and ideal health. His statement further supports this, “Thus, the trend of dying bee colonies can potentially lead to human health issues and serious effect on the world food security, since 35% of the human diet is thought to benefit from pollinators”. Both authors validate the role that bees have in food production, and global health through the use
Once collected the pollen is extracted from the soil, usually in the laboratory to avoid contamination, and analysed using a light, or scanning electron microscope (SEM). The wide differentiation in the size, shape and colour of the pollen grains enables identification to be made down to genera level. Following identification, the individual exines in a sub-set of the sample are quantified and plotted on a pollen analysis diagram, usually as a percentage of the whole.
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...
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.
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.
Home gardens offer a wide variety of benefits to the environment and serve a diverse group of people. Home gardening provides a source of fresh produce and free of chemicals, it also gives you complete control over the chemicals and products used during the growing process. A home garden allows you to pick the produce when its ripe, unlike produce at the store is often picked before its fully ripe. The quality and flavor of the freshly picked produce from home is better than the produce that might have unknown chemicals and was likely picked several days or weeks before being sold. The produce retains more nutrients when consumed shortly after being picked, making your home garden vegetables a healthier option. A garden also provides a positive environmental impact. The compost allows you to recycle certain kitchen and yard waste into a nutrient-rich additive for the garden. This provides natural fertilizer for you plants and reduces the wastes you produce. If you choose to avoid or limit chemical use, you reduce pollution from your gardening activities. Besides being good for the environment gardens have environmental gains for us. Gardening help control urban temperatures, If the environmental landscape design is effective it can cool your home in summer and warm it in winter, it can also reduce the energy cost by up to 20%. Gardening, and all the physical activity that goes along with it, leads to a better overall physical health, weight loss, improve you bones, and reduces the risk of having osteoporosis. “In a study of 3,310 older women, researchers from the University of Arkansas found that women involved in yard work and other types of gardening exercises had lower rates of osteoporosis than joggers, swimmers, and women wh...