What is a pollinator?

WHAT IS A POLLINATOR?

Try to imagine a world without apples, pears, carrots, grapes, coffee, and yes, even chocolate! Seems pretty dismal, right?

Pollinators are simply “Pollen Mobiles” as they are responsible for the transport of pollen from one point to another. 

They come in many forms, but in Georgia pollinators gardens they are likely to take the form of bees, butterflies, moths, and birds. Pollinators are the first and most important part of the pollination process. Subsequently, they directly determine fertilization, fruit, and seed set(a group of seeds from one plant). 

Without pollinators, our plates would look and taste pretty bland! 

WHEN SNACKS GO BAD

Place Yourself in This Scenario:

Feeling hungry, you decide to go into your kitchen and after analyzing all of the food in the refrigerator, you grab a delicious apple to snack on. At first glance, you notice that the apple is on the slightly smaller side as well as lopsided. Seeing that you are ravishingly hungry, however, you decide to go ahead and continue to slice the apple anyway. Being the curious person that you are, you count the seeds and notice there are approximately 6 seeds in each slice. Finally, after all of your hard work, you take a bite and to your horror, the apple is completely inedible leaving you feeling hungrier than ever! What happened to your snack? 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons Author- Red58bill

What Happened:

Not enough Pollen reached the flowers stigma in order for all of the apple seed to develop!

The Clues:

  1. If you cut an apple down the middle, you should find seeds that form a five-pointed star shape with two seeds in each “part” of the star. 
  2. An apple that is small, lopsided, and generally undesirable is a result of a poorly pollinated apple flower. An un-pollinated flower will not fruit at all!

Why Is This Important?

While this is simply a silly story about a snack gone wrong, it does emphasize the importance of pollinators! It is known that pollinators are responsible for a process which begins with a small transfer of pollen and ends up producing over 1/3 of the worlds temperate vegetables, fruits, and nuts.

For a detailed explanation on plant processes during pollination and fertilization, please visit our pages under the education menu “What is pollination” and “What is fertilization.”

POLLINATOR PARTNERSHIPS

Pollinators are a very diverse group of animals and each have their important role in pollination. In fact, throughout time, pollinators and the flowers they visit have developed specialized partnerships. 

Built between pollinator and flower, these associations are based on the physical attributes, motives, and abilities of the pollinator as well as the morphology and needs of the flower. While in sync, these pollinator partnerships between organism and flower are extremely efficient and offer mutual benefits for one-another! 

Pollinator Trait
(Syndrome):

An animal’s preference for distinct flower colors, shapes, or scents. As a gardener or scientist, these traits help us predict which flowers will attract which pollinators. 

                                    Guess the Pollinator!

Question 1: Which pollinator prefers flowers that are brightly colored, have ample nectar, and are narrowly shaped but with plenty of room to land?

Question 2: Which pollinator prefers flowers that are white/yellow/blue, have sticky pollen, and are tubular in shape? 

Question 3: Which pollinator prefers flowers that are orange/red/white, have ample(but hidden) nectar, and has a strongly built tubular shape?

Question 4: Which pollinator prefers flowers that are dull(white/green), have a strong musty odor, and are bowl shaped? 

Click here to see if you guessed right(scroll to page 10)! 

Photo Credit: Schwoaze from Pixabay

Photo Credit: Capri23auto form Pixabay

WHY DO POLLINATORS VISIT FLOWERS?

Pollinators obtain food in the form of the energy-rich nectar and/or protein-rich pollen. In exchange, the pollinated flowers get a vehicle for pollen dispersal, in order to produce seeds. The floral characteristics of the flower are often seen as “Advertisements” and the pollen/nectar seen as the “Reward.” 

Not all pollinators respond to the same stimuli, so what one pollinator may find alluring, another may not. Therefore, different types of “advertising” are used to attract specific types of pollinators. 

“Advertisements” Include: 

1. Flower Type and Shape

2. Scent

3. Color


How to Use in Your Pollinator Garden:

When we define a set of floral characteristics within a plant species, we can then anticipate what type of pollinators may visit. This is important for pollinator conservation because if you include a variety of species whose flowers display varied pollination syndrome traits, you will ensure that you are attracting a diverse variety of pollinators in your new garden!  

Photo Credit: Capri23auto from Pixabay

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

Check out the links below for some great resources on pollinators

1. Attracting Native Pollinators and Managing Alternative Pollinators from the Xerces Society

2. Bumble bees of the Eastern United States from Pollinator Partnership and here is a link to additional pollinator related books from their bookstore

3. Posters for bumblebee identification and classroom art! 

4. Bee Basics: An Introduction To Our Native Bees from the USDA Forest Service

5. The Great Georgia Pollinator Census