Pollination Defined: To produce flowers or fruit, plants require the addition of pollen; insects and some animals collect pollen on their bodies from male plants and deposit that pollen on female plants of the same species.
Types of Pollinators: Bees are our most prolific and efficient pollinators. Birds (particularly Hummingbirds), butterflies, moths, beetles, and bats distribute the pollen clinging to their bodies among the plants. Even some small mammals do their part to move that pollen around, capturing pollen on fur and snouts.
HOME GARDEN
Luring Pollinators to Our Gardens By Janice F. Booth
Spring is on our doorsteps and wisps of delights-to-come are floating through our gardens and with some of these March winds, racing through. And we’re often gladdened now by early crocuses, snow drops, and the green stems of soon-to-be daffodils and tulips poking up, growing hour-by-hour. In our gardens, pollinators—those helpful bees, beetles, and even a few moths—are making their way among the awakening plants, sipping any nectar that may be available and carrying pollen from bud to bud, flower to flower. Let’s consider how we can improve our gardens and help the pollinators who help our gardens glow with life and color. What is pollination? Who pollinates? What’s the importance of pollinators to us? How can we make small and large changes in our gardens to support these busy birds, bees, and other animals?
So what? Just a few facts about the impact these sometimes-pesky little bees, beetles, and birds have on our lives: • 75 percent of Earth’s flowering plants rely on insect and animal pollinators. • Healthy plants of all types clean the air, stabilize the soil, provide oxygen, and support wildlife. • That’s approximately 180,000 types of plants, 1,200 of which are food crops. • One-third of the food we regularly consume depends directly on the efforts of pollinators. • In the U.S. alone, pollination by Honeybees accounted for $19 billion of our nation’s crop productivity, according to the 2010 National Parks Services records. An additional $10 billion in crop productivity was attributable to other pollinators. • Add to our nation’s agriculture productivity, approximately $700 million flowed into the economy from U.S. Honeybee products and services.
whatsupmag.com | March 2022 | What’s Up? Annapolis
141
