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Ahh spring has sprung here in Southwest Florida! Buds are blooming and pollinators are hard at work collecting nectar and transporting pollen. How about in your backyard? Have you spotted any bees buzzing or butterflies fluttering by?
Pollinators assist flowering plants with reproduction by transporting pollen. These hard workers are not visiting flowers out of the kindness of their hearts, but rather for food, and they happen to pollinate in the process.
Populations of bees and other pollinators are declining around the world and they need our help! There are many ways that you can attract pollinators to your backyard who are in need of a helping wing. Check out our additional resources to learn more.
Protect our Pollinators
By: Kealy McNeal
Plants
Plants are sessile organisms and cannot easily, or rapidly move, so they utilize wind, water and animals to transport pollen between flowers, and then seeds after pollination. Flowering plants reproduce like animals, producing both male (sperm) and female (egg) gametes. The transfer of the male gametes to the female ovules is a process of genetic fusion called pollination. After pollination occurs, fertilization happens and the ovules grow into seeds within a fruit. For more on this check our Nature Near You flower dissection video.
Animal pollen transporters are called pollinators. Some pollinators are more efficient than others. The best pollinators deposit enough pollen for fertilization and like to visit the same species of plant over and over again. By visiting the same species, it is more likely that the plant will receive pollen that can fertilize its eggs. Plants often use visual cues to attract pollinators to its flowers, including shape, color and size. In most cases, the more showy the flower, the more likely it is to be visited by a pollinator.
Pollinators do not visit plants out of the goodness of their hearts. Most visit flowers for food and unknowingly pollinate in the process. Flowers provide two food rewards: pollen and nectar. Nectar is a sugary, liquid sought by most pollinators, especially butterflies and hummingbirds. Nectar is perfect fuel for energy-intensive flight. When feeding, pollen gets stuck on their beaks, feathers, or hairs and carried to other flowers in the process.
Bees/Pollinators
Bees are unique among pollinators by actively collecting pollen and nectar. Bees use a tongue-like structure, called a proboscis to suck up nectar. They carry it back to their hive to make honey, which is the food source for adults through the winter. Pollen is used to make bee bread! It’s taken back to the hive and mixed with enzymes to feed the babies. In many bee-pollinated flowers, there is a region of low ultraviolet reflectance near the center of each petal. This pattern is invisible to humans because our visual spectrum does not extend into the ultraviolet. Bees, however, can detect this ultraviolet light. The contrasting ultraviolet pattern (called a nectar guide) helps a bee quickly locate the flower's center.
Food
Populations of bees and other pollinators are declining around the world. They are facing many environmental challenges, including habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation; non-native species and diseases; pollution, including pesticides; and parasites. An often overlooked issue is air pollution which is a very real problem for bees and other pollinators that rely on scent trails to find flowers. Since 2006, the population of bees in the U.S. has declined steadily by one-third each year. Bees and other pollinators are very important to all agricultural lands, supporting the production of 87 of the leading food crops worldwide. This declining rate of pollinators will significantly impact the global food supply. Imagine not having apples, carrots, onions, strawberries or grapes to snack on.
There are many ways that you can help pollinators in your own backyard who are in need of a helping wing. Check out our additional resources to learn more. Today we’ll start by making a nectar sponge! Nectar is simple to make and you can provide a much needed snack to pollinators.
nectar sponge
By: Kealy McNeal
Materials
• Sponges*
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• Twine or string
• Scissors
*Sponges should be new or hardly used. Make sure to rinse the sponge multiple times with water to make sure no harmful chemicals reside on them that could later hurt our backyard pollinators.
Step 1
In a small saucepan bring 1 cup of water to a boil, stir in sugar and simmer until dissolved.
Steps 2-4
2. Remove from heat and cool completely.
3. While syrup is cooling cut sponges into smaller rectangles.
4. Cut or poke a small hole in each sponge.
Step 5
Cut 8” length of string and thread through a sponge.
Step 6
Dip the sponge in syrup until full, allow excess to drip from the sponge before hanging on limbs, porch railings or anywhere else you want to leave a “drink station” for your winged friends.
Step 7
Hang your Nectar Sponge and enjoy!
additional cool resources
Do you live in Southwest Florida?
SCCF has some amazing resources for you!
A Plant List for Your State!
More Information on Native Plants in North America
Attracting Butterflies with Florida's Native Wildflowers
DIY Pollinator Rest Area!
DIY Bee Hotel!
10 Ways to Save Pollinators
U.S. Fish and Wildlife - Pollinators
Credit: Fiorella Ikeue
Pollinator Biology and Identification
Bee Informed Blog!