Pollination and Pollinators

This is a story about the birds and the bees (and the bats and the bugs). That’s right, it’s a story about plant pollinators. Insects like bees and butterflies, as well as animals such as birds and bats, are responsible for pollinating two-thirds of the world’s food crops.

According to The Pollinator Partnership, www.pollinator.org, insect pollination contributes to $40 billion worth of products in the United States alone. Products that people take for granted, like coffee, chocolate and apples need pollinators as a part of their reproductive cycle.

Here’s how it works (in a very simplified way):

A plant blooms. A bee (or other pollinator) lands on the flower to feed on the nectar. Pollen grains (the male contribution to plant reproduction) attach to the legs and body of the bee. The bee moves to the next flower to feed on its nectar. Some of the pollen grains it picked up previously rub off onto the flower’s carpel (the female contribution to plant reproduction), and the plant is fertilized. The fertilized plant then produces a fruit with a seed, thus ensuring that the circle of life continues.

While some plants are “self-fertile” and can pollinate themselves, many others require intervention by insects, birds or bats to move pollen from one plant to another.

Pollination of food crops is such an important issue, that companies literally truck thousands of bee hives across the country to bring the pollinators to the crops when the bees are needed to fertilize those crops. For example, Maine’s annual blueberry crop requires 50,000 hives each year. The hives are trucked in when the plants are ready for pollination, and then moved to a new location when the blueberry crop is set.

Many of the most common pollinators are suffering dramatic population drops worldwide. The demise of bee, butterfly, bat and bird species would mean disaster for many plant species that are already rare or endangered. Many rare plant species need one specific insect to complete their reproductive cycles. In cases where the insect becomes extinct or extremely rare, the plant population declines, and in some cases, the plant becomes extinct.

The decline of pollinators would spell disaster for commercial crop production as well. Colony Collapse Disorder is the official name for the unexplained disappearance of about twenty-five percent of U.S. commercial bee colonies. Agriculture experts estimate that fully one-third of our country’s crop production would be lost without bees.

So, what can an individual homeowner to do to help save our pollinators? Plant native plants. Install a bat box. Reduce (or eliminate) pesticide use. Become a beekeeper.

There is an active beekeeping network in the McHenry County area. Erik Whalen-Pedersen of Spring Grove is the president of the local beekeepers association. He can be contacted at niba@mchsi.com. Additional information about membership in the local beekeepers organization can be found at their website: http://niba.home.mchsi.com/

© Lisa Haderlein, 2007