Pollinator

In the upper right corner of the photo is a bumblebee on a white clover. The bumblebee represents a pollinator. A pollinator is an animal or insect that moves pollen between flowers of the same species and begins the fertilization process of the flowers; this process is called pollination. Pollination is when the pollen from the male part of the flower (stamen) is transferred to the female part of the flower (stigma) and fertilizes it. In the photo, the bumblebee is demonstrating as a pollinator by extracting nectar from the white clover. As it is doing so, the bee is unintentionally collecting pollen and/or distributing previously collected pollen to the stigma of the flower to begin fertilization. Without pollinators, most plants cannot produce their own fruits or seeds. Some examples of pollinators include ants, bats, beetles, birds, butterflies, flies, moths, wasps, and many other animals. Pollinators even include water and the wind. Pollinators are responsible for 80% of the world's flowering plants. Pollinators produce $40 billion worth of products manually, so without pollinators we would not have many of the foods we have today.



“Pollinators Home Page - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.” Greater Sage-Grouse | Species Information,  
        www.fws.gov/pollinators/.
“Pollinators.” US Forest Service, www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/index.shtml.
“What Are Pollinators.” Pollinator.org, pollinator.org/pollination.