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Pollination. Parts of a Flower. What is Pollination. Pollen Transfer. Pollen Germination. Modes of Pollination. Self pollination Wind Grasses, Willows, Birch Water Animal. Coevolution. Pollination Syndromes. Pollinators. Bees Flies Wasps Butterflies Moths Beetles Humingbirds
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Modes of Pollination • Self pollination • Wind • Grasses, Willows, Birch • Water • Animal
Pollinators • Bees • Flies • Wasps • Butterflies • Moths • Beetles • Humingbirds • Bats
Major Threats to Pollinators • Habitat Loss, Degradation, and Fragmentation • Agriculture, resource extraction, and urban and suburban development • Non-native Species and Diseases • Shrubs such as autumn olive and multiflora rose take over open fields, they crowd out the wildflowers needed by certain butterfly and bee species for pollen, nectar, or larval food • Japanese barberry shades out native spring ephemerals like Dutchman’s breeches, which provide food for early spring bumble bees • Non-native plants also attract pollinators away from native species that are superior food sources • West Virginia white butterflies sometimes lay their eggs on non-native garlic mustard instead of native toothwort, for example, and the young caterpillars fail to thrive • Competition: 30 exotic bees known to inhabit North America
Major Threats to Pollinators • Introduced parasites and diseases are still another threat to pollinators • Mite and virus species that have severely compromised honey bee colonies. • Unintended changes • White-tailed deer numbers have increased over the years, due in part to the fragmentation of forest habitat into the open areas they prefer. • Deer browse removes understory vegetation that caterpillar larvae and other pollinators depend upon • Deer often preferentially feed on native shrubs such as spicebush, the host plant of the spicebush swallowtail caterpillar, while avoiding thorny non-native bushes like Japanese barberry
Major Threats to Pollinators • Air pollution is a very real problem for bees and other pollinators that rely on scent trails to find flowers • Light pollution can harm moth pollinators by increasing their susceptibility to predation by bats or birds when they are attracted to artificial lights at night
Major Threats to Pollinators • Pesticide misuse and drift from aerial spraying, especially spraying with so-called persistent chemicals that remain in the environment for a long time before degrading • Systemic insecticides applied to seeds can contaminate the pollen grains that are an essential source of food for bees and their young. Pesticides often kill directly, but sub-lethal amounts can also be detrimental to bees and other pollinators by impeding their ability to navigate or forage
Major Threats to Pollinators • Climate change • Flowering plants migrating north or to cooler, higher elevation habitat in response to warming temperatures or other changes may not move in sync with their pollinators. • The composition of pollinator communities is expected to change
CCD stands for Colony Collapse Disorder • Infectious disease affecting managed European honey bees (Apismellifera) in commercial beekeeping operations across the United States • CCD has resulted in losses of 50 to 90% of managed colonies in U.S. beekeeping operations during the past several years. • Colony mortality averaging 45%.
No one is clear why there is a sudden die-off of honey bee colonies • Chemical residue/contamination in the wax, food stores, and bees • Pathogens or parasites in the bees and brood • Stress to the bees and brood • Lack of genetic and lineage diversity in bees
Sources • Pollinator.org