Slide 1
A flower needs pollen moved
Pollination transfers pollen to the receptive part of a flower. Animals can carry it while seeking food or other resources.
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Transfer comes before fertilization. A successful visit must bring compatible pollen to the right place, so seeing an insect on a flower does not by itself prove that seeds will form.
Slide 2
Rewards draw visitors
Many flowers offer nectar or pollen. A visiting animal gains food while contact with reproductive structures can transfer pollen.
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Nectar mainly supplies sugars, while pollen contains other nutrients important to many insects. The reward sought influences where an animal touches the flower and what it carries away.
Slide 3
Signals guide the approach
Flower colour, scent and shape can help animals find a resource. Different visitors perceive signals differently from human observers.
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Some insects see ultraviolet patterns that people cannot see unaided. Judging a flower only by human colour vision can miss information relevant to its regular visitors.
Slide 4
Fit affects the exchange
A flower's structure influences where a visitor must reach for food. Contact can place pollen on a particular part of its body.
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The fit need not be exclusive to one pollinator species. Many flowers receive several visitors, and their effectiveness can differ even when all successfully collect nectar or pollen.
Slide 5
A network needs continuity
Flowering times and pollinator activity must overlap for animal pollination to work. Habitat supports both the plants and their visitors through the year.
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An adult pollinator may need nesting sites or larval food away from the flower. Maintaining floral resources alone can miss other stages that sustain the visiting population.
Sources
- Why do pollinators visit flowers?
US Forest Service
- Pollination and seed dispersal
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew