Pollinator

The Plight of the Bumble Bee With the demand for food constantly increasing, modern farmers have taken on new practices to keep up with demands. Some of these practices include genetic modification of plant species and animals, destroying habitats to make room for farm land, and spraying toxic pesticides to keep insects from consuming crops. Some would argue that these practices are necessary for keeping up with todays food demands, while others may argue that their negative side effects are…

Are you scared of bees? I am because they have a stinger and it hurts when they sting you. They are pollinators and help us out a lot! They go around pollinating and making honey in their comb. But, bees aren't the only pollinators bats and birds are too. If we didn't have pollinators we wouldn't have fruit, cotton, or coffee. There are 4,000 species of bees. Most of you probably know this but there is a queen bee that stays in the comb. It can also be better for your health. They pollinate…

all orchid species are deceptive, O. simia is no exception; it is nectarless and relies on food deception to attract pollinators. One of O. simia’s known pollinators is the Cidnopus pilosus beetle (Schatz 2006). Floral scent is composed of volatiles. Volatiles are a variety of organic compounds that evaporate into the air. They are important for plant defense and attracting pollinators. Wright G. and Schiestl F. analyzed the 2007 experiment conducted by Salzmann et. al showing that the amount…

know that the loss of bees, or natural pollinators, has been an epidemic. They reference this to bring the attention that, “pollinators for global food security; ~75% of all globally important crops depend to some degree on pollination.” While this is true, they mention the importance because the honey bees are not the bees we should be worrying about. They continue by stating that they have found that western honey bees have been killing other pollinators when introduced into their area,…

American Journal of Botany 92: 1899–1910. Olesen J.M., Valido, A. ( 2003). Lizards as pollinators and seed dispersers: an island phenomenon. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 18(4): 177-181. Sazima, M., Buzato, S., and Sazima, I. (1999).Bat- pollinated flower assemblages and Bat visitors at two Atlantic forest sites in Bra Academy of Sciences of the USA 103: 956–961. Waser NM, Ollerton J, eds. 2006. Plant–pollinator interactions: from specialization to generalization. Chicago, IL: University…

Amianthium muscaetoxicum, commonly known as fly poison, is a perennial plant found in throughout the Eastern United States. Other common names include crow poison and stagger grass; the name fly poison arose from the translation of the Latin name A. muscaetoxicum, muscae meaning flies and toxicum meaning poison. In the past, the Cherokee would use the plant’s poison to kill crows, hence its common name crow poison, while early settlers would mix the crushed up bulb with honey to kill flies (Fly…

With individualized sanctions, F. nymphaeifolia would be able to sanction specific flowers inside the syconium instead of the entire fig itself. If there were a mechanism involving a way to distinguish eggs from non-pollinators and pollinators, F. nymphaeifolia would be able to cut off the nutrient supply to the flowers containing the pollen-free wasp’s eggs. This would dramatically dwindle the population of pollen-free wasps whether the problem is genetic or not. If it’s heritable…

biodiversity and keeping pollinators from dying was interesting and most important to me. During the trip Laura Krause explained that the majority of seeds are coated with neonicotinoids. The coating spreads throughout all parts of the plant and gets into the pollen and nectar in pollinators. The neonicotinoids contain a sublethal level of toxic chemicals that slowly causes harm to bees and other pollinators. The toxicity of the insecticides is slowly killing bees and other pollinators. Without…

tropical rainforests, where hundreds or even thousands plant species exist, green is the dominant color. Plants like C. haematocephala has to have showy and colorful flowers that helps them stand out among other plant species in attracting animal pollinators (Miller et al. 2009). Chiroterophilous plants, like C. haematocephala, usually exhibit features that make them attractive to bats, such as having large quantities of pollen in their flowers, and inflorescence (van der Pijl 1961). The showy…

Title A4 Aspen Balzly Introduction: Upon entering a farmer’s market, one might assume that consumers are eager to hand over their money to anyone with the product or service that they are in search of. Buyers, however, have come to prove that they can be very picky and know exactly what they want and how they want it. Booths of all sorts are located directly next to their competitors, each striving to catch the buyer’s interest and suede them into purchasing their product.…