Birds and Bees – Pollinators

Without the ability to move about freely, plants are presented with a courtship challenge. Luckily, they are equipped with some clever strategies to ensure pollination. These strategies involve relying on creatures that have locomotion – enter the birds and the bees (and a host of flies, butterflies, beetles as well).

Plants employ various tactics to attract their pollinators. Some use brilliant blossoms with visual cues such as colors, patterns, or ultraviolet wave lengths. Others use fragrances ranging from intoxicatingly sweet to those that resemble dung or rotting flesh.

Pollination of a Dandelion by a bee, carrying pollen on its body. Photo by: Guérin Nicolas

Pollinators respond to these enticements, and are rewarded with nectar. As pollinators crawl around the plant feeding on nectar, or probe for nectar, they drop off pollen collected from a previous plant, and pick up new pollen, ensuring cross pollination. Some pollinators are general – they visit many plant species. Other are very specific, such as some humming birds or butterflies that visit only a certain type of plant.

Rufous Hummingbird (''Selasphorus rufus''). Photo by: Dean E. Biggins (Fish and Wildlife Service)

Even the elements are involved in pollination. Plants, such as the oak, are pollinated via pollen born on the wind; other plants via pollen riding on liquid. This symbiotic relationship between plant and pollinator is key to the success of both.

Learn More:

• Botany for Gardeners, by Brian Capon (Timber Press 2005). See Part V Reproduction, Chapter 9, “From Flowers to Fruits”.
• Pollination and Fertilization, derived from Pollination and Fertilization, by Robert Bear and David Rintoul, for Open Stax, Rice University (Creative Commons).