The Role Of Bees In Pollination

What Is Pollination?

Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred from a flower’s male part (anther) to its female part (stigma), leading to fertilization and the production of seeds.

Plants pollinate using animals, wind, and water, but bees are the most important pollinators for many flowering plants.

Plant-Bee Relationship:

Many flowers, with bright colors, sweet nectar, and strong fragrances, have evolved to attract bees. Examples:

• Sunflowers with bright yellow colors and large landing pads.
• Lavenders have a strong scent and purple color.
• Bee Balm with its tubular flowers filled with nectar.

 

How Do Bees Help Pollinate?

Bees visit flowers to collect nectar and pollen as food. 

• Bees are perfectly designed for pollination! Their fuzzy, hairy bodies are great for trapping pollen, which they carry between flowers.

• When they land on the next flower, some of that pollen brushes off onto the new flower’s stigma, allowing fertilization to take place.

• They have unique structures on their legs called pollen baskets, where they store pollen for their return trip to the hive.

• Bees encourage cross-pollination, which means transferring pollen between different plants of the same species. This helps plants produce healthier seeds and more diverse offspring.

 

Fun Facts

Here are some interesting facts about the bees and pollination:

• Bees can visit up to 5,000 flowers in a single day!
• About one-third of the food we eat depends on pollinators like bees.
• A bee colony can have as many as 60,000 bees working together to support the hive.
• Bees use a special dance called the “waggle dance” to communicate with other bees about the best flowers to visit.

 

Review

Let’s quickly recap what we learned about the role of bees in pollination:

• What part of a bee’s body helps trap pollen for pollination? Tiny Hairs
• What are the unique structures on a bee’s legs that store pollen? Pollen Baskets
• What dance do bees perform to communicate? Waggle
• What is the term for transferring pollen between different plants of the same species? Cross-Pollination