Here’s my newest crazy project: I want to learn which native pollinators visit which native plants in my local forests. So far, I’ve spent a lot of hours trekking around and finding very little. Oh, there are plenty of flowers; I just don’t see many pollinators on them. Furthermore, I can find almost nothing about […] Read more
A plant-pollinator mutualism is an association between a plant and a pollinator wherein each partner benefits from the other. Typically, the plant is cross-pollinated with other plants of the same species—a system which mixes the genetic material and creates strong and vigorous seeds. The pollinator gets pollen and nectar—or both—which it uses to nourish itself […] Read more
A new study, conducted in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, suggests a disturbing relationship between climate change and the pollination rate of a specific flower, the glacier lily. The research—performed over a 17-year period by Professor James Thomson from the University of Toronto—is due to be published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: […] Read more
Pollenkitt is a sticky covering found on the surface of pollen grains. It is also spelled “pollen kit” or “pollenkit” and is sometimes called “pollen coat.” It is found in some plant families more often than others, but it is especially common in plants that are pollinated by insects. Because of this, scientists believe that […] Read more