THE NATURAL SOUTH: Pollinators

"WILDLIFE WEDNESDAY"

Pollinators

Pollinators
are an essential part of the web of life.

In high school I wrote a paper in senior, honors, AP, geekspeak, nerdism, English class that I called "The web of life". I had recently read a book by Rachel Carson entitled "Silent Spring". My paper was based on my observations from the book and probably a little plagiarism from some other sources also..... Who knows? Obviously, I'm not a grammar Nazi, nor am I really good at writing, BUT..... I poured my heart into writing this paper with hopes that I would change the world's view about the importance and relevance of all things wild.
I felt just like Ralphie from "A Christmas Story"

In case you haven’t seen it, the movie is about 9-year-old Ralphie Parker and a central plot line is his quest to get a Red Ryder BB Gun. Whenever he asks for the gun for Christmas, he invariably is told, “You’ll shoot your eye out.”In one sequence in the movie, Ralphie’s fourth-grade class is told to write “a theme” on the subject, “What I Want for Christmas.” Ralphie, who ordinarily doesn’t like theme-writing, views the assignment as a primo opportunity to end the “conspiracy of irrational prejudice against Red Ryder and his peacemaker.”As he turns in his theme, he fantasizes about garnering an A+ (make that multiple plusses) on it.“I knew I was handing Miss Shields a masterpiece,” says the narrator, the adult Ralphie. “Maybe Miss Shields in her ecstasy would excuse me from theme writing for the rest of my natural life.”

Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work out that way. Miss Shields gives him a C+ on the essay and notes at the bottom, “You’ll shoot your eye out.” As you might imagine, Ralphie is devastated.
My paper was met with much the same fate. Ms. G&%$*@! must not have liked my stance, because she knit picked my paper to a "C" and wrote on it in red "You don't really think this could happen do you?" She always loved me and seemed to even give me a bit of favoritism at times, but this paper must have struck her wrong. I ended that year with an excellent A+ average, but not because she liked my earth shaking, thought provoking, worldview changing paper that I had written. I guess she thought I would put my eye out.

Back to Pollinators. In that paper, I spoke much about how important these hard working little critters are to the web of life. Often we may not notice the hummingbirds, bats, bees, beetles, butterflies, and flies that carry pollen from one plant to another as they collect nectar. Yet without them, wildlife would have fewer nutritious berries and seeds, and we would miss many fruits, vegetables, and nuts, like blueberries, squash, and almonds . . . not to mention chocolate and coffee…all of which depend on pollinators.

Pollinators by Numbers
Three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants and about 35 percent of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollinators to reproduce. More than 3,500 species of native bees help increase crop yields. Some scientists estimate that one out of every three bites of food we eat exists because of animal pollinators like bees, butterflies and moths, birds and bats, and beetles and other insects.

How Animal Pollination Works
Pollinators visit flowers in their search for food (nectar and pollen). During a flower visit, a pollinator may accidentally brush against the flower’s reproductive parts, unknowingly depositing pollen from a different flower. The plant then uses the pollen to produce a fruit or seed. Many plants cannot reproduce without pollen carried to them by foraging pollinators.

Pollinators Are in Trouble
You may have heard that bees are disappearing and bats are dying. These and other animal pollinators face many challenges in the modern world. Habitat loss, disease, parasites, and environmental contaminants have all contributed to the decline of many species of pollinators. Ms. G&%$*@! may not think it could happen, but Rachel Carson (author Silent Spring) and I think it really could happen. The following are a couple quotes from "Silent Spring".
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. ...“In nature nothing exists alone.”

The secret bond of the partnership is that neither plant nor pollinator populations can exist in isolation – should one disappear, the other is one generation away from disaster.

(USDA: NRCS https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/plantsanimals/pollinate/)