2/26/2021 0 Comments WHAT IS A POLLINATOR?With all the interest in pollinator gardens, it’s important to consider which insect pollinators a gardener is trying to attract. One of the most recognized pollinators are bees, but butterflies and moths, flies, and beetles are also valuable pollinators that are often forgotten. What does a pollinator do?An insect pollinator helps plants reproduce by moving pollen from one flower to another. Although this is an incredibly important role, pollinators are not fertilizing plants on purpose. Bees, butterflies, and flies are all visiting flowering plants as a resource for food, whether it's feeding from the nectar or the pollen. While a bee, for example, has it’s head buried deep in a flower and searching for a sweet nectar reward, it will accidentally brush up against the pollen coated anther of the flower and pollen will become trapped in between the small hairs that cover its body. The next time it flies to a flower, some of the trapped pollen will fall off as it continues to forage for nectar, and this cycle of pollination will continue on. WHAT DOES A POLLINATOR LOOK LIKe? Because pollinators are carrying pollen from one flower to the next, they need a way to accidentally trap pollen on their bodies. Most insects have evolved hairy bodies that work phenomenally at temporarily trapping and releasing pollen during flower visits. Bumble bees are notorious for their fuzzy bodies - but flies, wasps, and beetles also have more discrete hairs that sometimes cant be seen with the naked eye. Below is a photo by Elizabeth Panner, accessed from USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab’s photostream on Flickr. You can clearly see varying hair lengths on the body of the green metallic fly. In comparison, Photo by Jade Louis shows striking similarities to this solitary bee, Euglossa imperialis, in their fuzzy bodies. Photo by Cole Cheng shows that even beetles have more hair than meets the naked eye with this photo of a Weevil. Even the Murder Hornet contributes to pollination. (unknown photographer) MANAGED POLLINATORSBecause bees make exceptional pollinators, farmers have effectively monetized off of their benefits to crop production. Honey bees hives are put on cargo vans and shipped all around the United States to help pollinate crops, such as apples, almonds, and blueberries. Their temporary boost of pollination helps increase crop yields for farmers, and results in delicious honey that stock the shelves in supermarkets. A lesser known managed pollinator is the alfalfa leafcutting bee. They’re a solitary bee that builds their nests out of leaf clippings in small holes and cavities in trees, buildings, and other structures. When provided with a commercial nesting block, alfalfa leafcutting bee producers are able to harvest their nests while the adolescent leafcutting bees continue to develop in their cells. Below is a picture of a leafcutting bee nest, which contains on average 7 individual cells that hold a single egg. Once the offspring hatch from their egg, they will spend their entire adolescent period developing inside the cell and feeding off of a mixture of pollen and nectar provided by the mother during nest construction. Once they reach their adult stage, they will chew their way out of the leaf clipping walls and begin a new cycle of pollinating and reproducing.
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