1. Plants & Pollinators

2. 2

3. Which Animals Pollinate?
Bees (native & managed)
Butterflies
Moths
Bats
Birds
Wasps
Flies
Beetles
Ants
Unusual pollinators
(lemurs, honey opossums,
geckos, lizards)
© Paul Growald
© Merlin Tuttle, BCI
© Paul Growald
© Paul Growald
© Paul Growald
© Paul Growald 3

4. This is your breakfast….4

5. …this is your breakfast, thanks to POLLINATORS…5

6. 6

7. Food Crops Chili peppers (bee) Apple (bee) Palms (beetle,bee)
© USDA-NRCS
© USDA-NRCS
Chili peppers (bee)
Apple (bee)
Palms (beetle,bee)
Squash (bee)
Potato (bee)
Beans (thrip,bee)
Cocoa (midge)
Tea (fly,bee)
Coffee (fly,bee)
Tomato (bee)
Avocado (bee, fly, bat)
Mango (fly,bat,bee)
Vanilla (bee)
Alfalfa (bee)
Banana (bee, bat)
Agave (bat)
Fig (wasp)
Sunflower (bee)
Cashew (bee,moth,bat)
Almond (bee)
Raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, strawberry, cranberry (bee)
© USDA-NRCS
© Starbucks Corp. 7

8. Pollinators as part of the ecosystem
Photo by employees of Unimin Corporation 8

9. Growing Concerns About Pollinator Decline
Habitat destruction & fragmentation
Human development
Agriculture (monocultures, pesticides)
Misuse and overuse of pesticides
Competition from exotic/
introduced species
New diseases and parasites
Lack of public awareness/support
© USDA-NRCS
© USDA-NRCS
© USDA-NRCS 9

10. Bees – the Major Pollinator of Flowering Plants
Bees are adapted for feeding on nectar for energy and pollen for protein and other nutrients
Most pollen is used as food for larvae
Have a long proboscis – a complex “tongue” that enables them to obtain the nectar from flowers
Bees are adapted for feeding on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy
source, and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as
food for larvae.
Bees have a long proboscis (a complex"tongue") that enables them to obtain the nectar from flowers. They have antennae almost universally made up of 13 segments in males and twelve in females, as is typical for the superfamily. Bees all have two pairs of wings, the hind pair being the smaller of the two; in a very few species, one sex or caste has relatively short wings that make flight difficult or impossible, but none is wingless.
Bees play an important role in pollinating flowering plants, and are the major type of pollinator in ecosystems that contain
flowering plants.

11. Bees that are deliberately gathering pollen are more efficient pollinators
It is estimated that one third of the human food supply depends on insect pollination, most of which is accomplished by bees