Do you eat watermelon, what about apples or squash? Did you know they need insects to help them grow? It’s called Pollination!
Pollination is how insects, animals, and nature help plants make seeds and reproduce!
Bees are one of the most popular pollinators, some crops we eat depend on bees completely to grow, such as almonds!
Pollination via bees occurs when a bee lands on a flower to collect nectar from the flower. While the bee is sitting on the flower it will get covered in pollen grains.
Pollen grains are very small and have the male genes of a plant inside!
Once the bee has collected nectar from one flower its travels to another. When the bee flies, pollen grains will fall off the bee and float down to land onto other flowers. Pollen can also travel from one flower to the other by the bee simply landing on the flower.
Click on the video below to see a real bee in action!
The number of bees is getting lower, bees are dying and being killed! Without bees we will have little food to eat.
So what do we do if all the bees are gone? How will the flowers be pollinated?
In greenhouses where bees don’t have access to plants, people act as the pollinators in order for our fruits, vegetables, and flowers to grow. They use paintbrushes and other tools to pollinate each plant separately! This takes a lot of time!
Do you think you could help?
Activity:
Go outside and find a flower that has pollen grains like the one pictured. Using a paintbrush, q-tip, cotton swap or your finger collect some pollen. Now act like a bee and spread your pollen to other plants and flowers.
Remember this is a very important job, and next time you see a bee tell her thank you!
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