What Are Pollinators?
Pollinators are animals, usually insects, but also reptiles, birds, mammals, and many others, that routinely transport pollen and play a role in pollination. This is usually as a result of their activities when visiting plants for feeding, breeding or shelter. The pollen adheres to the pollinators's body parts such as face, legs, mouthparts, hair, feathers, and moist spots. Such transport is vital to the pollination of many plant species.
Any kind of animal that often visits or encounters flowers is likely
to be a pollinator to some extent. For example, a crab spider that
stops at one flower for a time and then moves on, might carry pollen
incidentally, but most pollinators of significant interest are those
that routinely visit the flowers for some functional activity. They
might feed on pollen, or plant organs, or on plant secretions such as
nectar, and carry out acts of pollination on the way.
However, in general, plants
that rely on pollinators tend to be adapted to their particular type
of pollinator, for example day-pollinated species tend to be brightly
colored, but if they are pollinated largely by birds or specialist
mammals, they tend to be larger and have larger nectar rewards than
species that are strictly insect-pollinated. They also tend to spread
their rewards over longer periods, having long flowering seasons; their
specialist pollinators would be likely to starve if the pollination
season were too short.
Various Pollinators include: Hummingbirds, Moths, Bats, Butterflies, Bees, Beetles, Flies, Wasps, etc. Bees are the most efficient pollinators. There are 10,000 species of bees and the honey bee is the only one that produces surplus honey. The other bees only make enough honey for their own use.
Environmental Impact on Pollinators
Loss of pollinators, also known as Pollinator decline (of which Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is perhaps the most well known) has been noticed in recent years. Observed losses have had significant economic impacts. Possible explanations for pollinator decline include habitat destruction, pesticides and herbicides, parasites, diseases, climate change and others. Many researchers believe it is the synergistic effects
of these factors which are ultimately detrimental to pollinator
populations (i.e a variety of these possible causes working together).
As per the Pollinator Partnership (2014):
- The U.S. has lost over 50% of its managed honey bee colonies over the past 10 years.
- A lack of research has hindered our knowledge about the status of pollinators.
- The European Union (E.U.) has been so concerned that they have invested over $20 million investigating the status of pollinators in Europe.
Excerpts from:
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/
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