Plants and Pollinators
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Plants and Pollinators Ann Montague & Sonya Anderson Horticulturists, Denver Botanic Gardens Photo courtesy National Fish and Wildlife Federation Photo courtesy of Beependent Photo from courseware.e-education.psu.edu Habitat Loss Area of primary forests in the United States (lower 48) (around 1620, top; and 1850 middle; 1920, bottom) Since 1600, 90% of the virgin forests that once covered much of the lower 48 states have been cleared away. Most of the remaining old-growth forests in the lower 48 states and Alaska are on public lands. In the Pacific Northwest about 80% of this forestland is slated for logging. University of Michigan course on global change Ecologists estimate that only 3-5% of land in the lower 48 states remains as undisturbed habitat for plants and animals. – Dr. Douglas Tallamy, Bringing Nature Home Habitat Loss • 95% of tallgrass prairie that once covered 400,000 square miles have been converted to agriculture, paved over, lost to mining - permanently destroyed in some fashion – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service • Only 50% of Colorado’s shortgrass prairie still exists – Colorado Parks and Wildlife • There are three times more acres of lawn than irrigated corn in the U.S. – NASA Earth Observatory • We have converted 32 to 40 million acres of native habitat into suburban lawns, plants that are of virtually no use to pollinators or wildlife. – Christina Milesi, Environmental Management 36, 2005 Why is this important? “Plants are not optional on this planet. With few exceptions, neither we, nor anything else, can live without them. We invariably take plants and the benefits they provide for granted. Who takes time to think that the oxygen in each breath has been produced exclusively by plants? Who is grateful for the forests when we are blessed with the rains that provide the fresh water we require, water that is filtered clean by the tangled mass of roots it flows through en route to the nearest stream?” – Dr. Douglas W. Tallamy in Bringing Nature Home With habitat loss comes wildlife and pollinator loss Without pollinators, many plants cannot set seed and reproduce Bees are responsible for 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat And that’s just bees. There are lots of other pollinators – beetles, flies, ants, moths, butterflies, hummingbirds, and Cuban flower bat ( Phyllonycteris poeyi ) pollinating Blue Mahoe Tree in Cuba. – Dr. Merlin Tuttle Imagine how different breakfast would be if there were no pollinators: No orange, apple, tomato, or grapefruit juice No strawberry jam or grape jelly for the toast No blueberries or bananas for the pancakes or on top of cereal No COFFEE! The Asian giant honeybee, Apis dorsata , is one of a number of pollinators of coffee in southern India. northsouth.ethz.ch The tiny chocolate midge is the only pollinator who serves the cacao plant. Brian V. Brown/Encyclopedia of Life Sharing the message of the importance of pollinators Pollinator Week – June 20-26, 2016 Saturday, June 25 – Events Informational tables on west terrace Bee dance in the amphitheater Talks in Gates Hall Info in the Library Events at Chatfield Tours But pollinators don’t work just one day per year! Pollinators & Plants Tour The Science of Pollination Fun Facts Common Q & A Plants and Gardens Creating a Pollinator Garden Info on Individual Groups of Pollinators Additional Resources Available in the Helen Fowler Library Pollinator Fun Facts Did you know" Bees can’t see red Honey bees “dance” to communicate An average worker bee makes only about 1/12 teaspoon of honey in its lifetime It takes 10,000 worker bees to make a pound of honey, and they may have to fly 50,000 miles or more to do so Honey bees may forage up to 2-5 miles from the hive. Honey bees do not hibernate, but cluster for warmth. They remain active all winter. Honey bees will maintain an internal cluster temperature of 92 degrees in the coldest part of winter Bees will disconnect their wings allowing then to pump their wing muscles to create heat Many solitary bees live in the ground Beekeeping dates back at least 4500 years In the U.S., pollination produces nearly $20 billion worth of products annually. (data as of 2011) Most “bee or wasp stings” are actually from yellow jacket wasps, carnivores Without bats we’d have no tequila – bats pollinate agave plants Lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae), feeding on Agave flower, Amado, Arizona. This bat is listed as vulnerable. news.discovery.com The yucca plant is dependent upon the yucca moth for its survival and perpetuation of yucca plants. The Co-evolution pistil (female part) of each flower ends in a three- lobed stigma. In order for pollination to occur, masses of Plants and of pollen must be forced down into this central Pollinators stigmatic hole. The female yucca moth gathers pollen from the flower anthers by using her specially adapted mouthparts. She forms the sticky pollen into a ball. The pollen ball is then "stuffed" or "combed" into the stigma of the various flowers she visits. Without this process, the yucca flower will not develop into the fruit or pod with seeds. When the female moth visits the flower, she backs up to the flower base and inserts her ovipositor to lay an egg in one or more of the six chambers. The chamber protects the egg while it develops. By the time the egg hatches into a microscopic caterpillar, the yucca will have begun to develop a pod with little seeds. http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/ The yucca and the yucca moth both benefit in the animals/moths.shtml relationship. But Charles Darwin, during his own flower-pollination studies, was clever enough to identify a moth without anyone ever having seen it. Orchid specimens Darwin received from the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar included a species—Angraecum sesquipedale—with a nectar spur longer than any known Madagascan insect could possibly feed from. Darwin predicted that the orchid was pollinated by a moth with an 11-inch-long (28 centimeter) tongue. More than 40 years later, in 1903, that moth, Xanthopan morganii , was finally revealed. The sphinx moth, Xanthopan morganii praedicta . Photograph by the Natural History Museum, Alamy http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2014/06/17/national-pollination-week-bees-moths-bats-flowers-animals/ Pollinator/Plants Traits Table Trait Bats Bees Beetles Birds Butterflies Flies Moths Wind Pale and dull to Dull green, Bright, including Bright white, dark brown or Pale and dull brown, or Dull white, Dull white or Scarlet, orange, red orange Color yellow, blue, or purple; flecked red, purple, colorless; green or purple green red or white , purple UV with translucent pink or white petals absent or and pink patches reduced Nectar Guides Absent Present Absent Absent Present Absent Absent Absent None to Strong musty; Fresh, mild, Strong sweet; Odor strongly fruity or None Faint but fresh Putrid None emitted at night pleasant emitted at night fetid Abundant; Sometimes Ample; deeply Ample; deeply Ample; deeply Nectar somewhat Usually present present; not Usually absent None hidden hidden hidden hidden hidden Limited; often Abundant; Modest in Pollen Ample sticky and Ample Modest Limited Limited small, smooth, amount scented and not sticky Regular: small Regular; bowl Shallow; have Large funnel and stigmas Narrow tube Shallow; funnel shaped – landing Large bowl-like, like; cups, Regular; tubular exerted Flower Shape with spur; wide like or complex closed during platform; Magnolia strong perch without a lip (grasses often landing pad and trap-like day tubular support fall into this category) USDA Forest Service Only a bee of just the right size and weight is able to trigger the flower to open and all others are excluded Bees and Pollen savannahbee.com therewilding.com Beetles are responsible for pollinating 88% of the 240,000 flowering plants globally – USDA Forest Service – Photo by Beatriz Moisset 2002 thegreenetomato.wordpress.com Native Bees Native pollinators, especially bees other than honey bees, have been pollinating the Black Long-Horned Bee on continent’s flowering plants since long Purple Coneflower before the arrival of honey bees. Even in today’s vastly altered landscapes, they continue to do the yeomen’s share of pollination, especially when it comes to native plants. The honey bee, remarkable as it is, does not know how to pollinate tomato or eggplant flowers. It does very poorly compared to native bees when pollinating many native plants, such as pumpkins, cherries, blueberries, and cranberries. One example is the southeastern blueberry bee, Habropoda laboriosa , a hard working little creature capable of visiting as many as 50,000 blueberry flowers in her short life Applewood Seed Company and pollinating enough of them to produce more than 6,000 ripe blueberries. http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5306468.pdf Native bees are two to three times better pollinators than honeybees – cornell.edu A detailed, comprehensive, statewide listing of Colorado bee species identifies 946 species of bees native to Colorado https://cumuseum.colorado.edu/bees-colorado Photos by Diane M. Wilson Native Plants Support Important Native Pollinators Your tour guests will probably see a lot of pollinators in our native plantings. Some highly hybridized cultivars don’t provide pollen or produce double flowers that make it hard for the pollinator to access the pollen and nectar. You and our guests can help increase pollinators and improve their fragmented habitat by: • Planting pollinator gardens • Incorporate native plants in existing plantings • Decrease the amount of turf • Plant a variety of flowers that bloom at different times throughout the season • Plant in swaths • Reduce the use of pesticides - IPM (Integrated Pest Management) • Provide shelter and nesting sites for pollinators Celebrate Pollinators Pollinator Week is June 20-26, 2016 Pollinator Event is Saturday, June 25, 2016 Please mark your calendar, tell your friends and join us! Thank you.