Pollination is a process that is imperative to the success of nearly all-terrestrial life on earth.
The process of pollination occurs naturally through abiotic or biotic processes, meaning it is assisted by living or nonliving forces.Pollination occurs when pollen is transferred from one flower to another, allowing the plants to reproduce. Pollen, the genetic material transferred from one plant to another, fertilizes the egg of a female plant and allows for seed production to occur.
Abiotic Pollination
Biotic Pollination
This process is responsible for the reproduction of nearly all plant life on earth, and consequently supports the survival of most animal life as well.
Primary producers, or plants, are eaten by herbivores and omnivores, who are then eaten by predators. All of these creatures rely on healthy plant populations to survive, so it is important that pollinator populations are abundant and healthy to maintain balance in the food chain.
Pollinator gardens are made up of native plants that provide a source of food and shelter to other local species. Pollinators thrive off the nectar from the plants, but a variety of other species of birds and mammals depend on these plants for food and shelter. When we plant pollinator gardens, we encourage the positive interactions that happen in nature to occur supporting a healthy, biodiverse ecosystem.
Humans need healthy pollinator populations to support our food system and our economy.We rely so much on pollinators that apiarists, or beekeepers, travel around the country with beehives to pollinate crops! Pollination is so important that if we lost our pollinators, it would dramatically alter what foods are available to us, changing our diets and threatening access to nutritional food. In fact, we rely on pollination so heavily that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UnitedNations determined it supports the production of crops estimated to be valued between US$235 and US$577 billion a year globally (3). Moreover, about 80 to 95 percent of the plant species within our local ecosystems need animal-mediated pollination. If we lost pollinators, we’d also lose the habitats that are unique and special to the places we live and visit!