The transfer of pollen from a flower's male structures to a female structure, either on the same plant or another, allowing fertilization and seed production. Most flowering plant species rely on an animal to carry pollen rather than wind alone, and the plant's flower shape, scent and reward are typically adapted to the specific pollinator it depends on most. The honey bee is the world's most economically significant managed pollinator, visiting a single flower type repeatedly on one foraging trip and, in doing so, moving pollen efficiently between flowers of the same species, a behavior called flower constancy; butterflies including the monarch also carry pollen between flowers as they feed on nectar, though less efficiently than bees because their smoother bodies collect less pollen.
Facts
PeriodicitySeasonal, tied to a plant's flowering period, though tropical species may flower and be pollinated year round. 1 ScaleOrganismal, one flower visit at a time, but its cumulative effect underwrites the reproduction of most flowering plant species and a large share of global food crops. 1 First DescribedA 1793 study by Christian Konrad Sprengel first argued systematically that flowers are shaped to attract and reward animal pollinators rather than existing for their own sake, though the work was largely ignored until Charles Darwin drew attention to it decades later. 1 Connections
Associated With
Source Pollination (Wikipedia)
Source Pollination (Wikipedia)
Demonstrated By
The exceptional plant diversity of this rainforest depends on specialized pollinators, including hummingbirds and euglossine bees, that have coevolved with its flora.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Source World Wildlife Fund
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Rafflesia, native to the Sumatran lowland rainforest, is pollinated by carrion flies drawn to the odor of decaying flesh its flowers produce.
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Pollination (Wikipedia)
Lead section
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds.
History and discovery passage
The pollination process as an interaction between flower and pollen vector was first addressed in the 18th century by Christian Konrad Sprengel.
Lead section, pollinating agents sentence
Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or butterflies; birds, and bats; water; wind; and even plants themselves.
Biotic pollination section
Insect pollinators such as honey bees (Apis spp.), bumblebees (Bombus spp.), and butterflies (e.g., Thymelicus flavus) have been observed to engage in flower constancy, which means they are more likely to transfer pollen to other conspecific plants.
Pollination research section, Sprengel sentence
The pollination process as an interaction between flower and pollen vector was first addressed in the 18th century by Christian Konrad Sprengel.
Coevolution section, bee mutualism sentence
Bees provide a good example of the mutualism that exists between hymenopterans and angiosperms.
Environmental impacts section, genetic diversity sentence
Without this genetic diversity there would be a lack of traits for natural selection to act on for the survival of the plant species.
Economics of commercial honeybee pollination section, western honey bee sentence
The western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) provides highly valued pollination services for a wide variety of agricultural crops, and ranks as the most frequent single species of pollinator for crops worldwide.
Associated With: Symbiosis, Coevolution section, bees paragraph
Bees provide a good example of the mutualism that exists between hymenopterans and angiosperms.
Associated With: Natural Selection, Coevolution section, Rediviva neliana example
For example, long legs are selected for in Rediviva neliana, a bee that collects oil from Diaspora capsularis, which have long spur lengths that are selected for in order to deposit pollen on the oil-collecting bee, which in turn selects for even longer legs in R. neliana and again longer spur length in D. capsularis is selected for, thus, continually driving each other's evolution.
View the SourceWhat is Pollination? (US Forest Service)
Opening paragraph, first sentenceQuote, Opening paragraph, first sentence
Pollination is the act of transferring pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma.
Pollinators (National Park Service)
Opening text, second sentenceQuote, Opening text, second sentence
More than 75 percent of the Earth's flowering plants depend on bees, butterflies, birds, bats, and other pollinators.
World Wildlife Fund
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