Pollinators

What are pollinators?

A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen between flowers, aiding in fertilization. Although we might first think of bees as pollinators, birds, rodents, butterflies, beetles, moths, and bats can also pollinate flowers. Some plants are even pollinated by the wind!

Why are they important?

Plants are stationary—meaning they can't move around—so they need help finding other plants with which to reproduce. Pollinators are essential for this process! They help move pollen from flower to flower, fertilizing plants and leading to the formation of fruit and seeds. The pollinators also get something from this interaction: they take nectar, which is their food, from the flowers they visit. Plants and pollinators need each other!

Plants and pollinators rely on each other and these relationships have been created on an evolutionary time scale. Both plants and pollinators have phenological cycles that need to align with each other. Can you think of an early spring day when you've seen bees buzzing around new flower blossoms? If the flowers bloomed before the bees emerged, the flowers would not get pollinated and the bees would have no food. As climate change alters the timing of seasonal events in plants, the timing may not align with pollinators in the way it has historically. This can negatively impact both the plants and the pollinators. We need your help monitoring these changes so scientists can better understand them.

Pollinators come in all shapes and species. But for our purposes, here are a few of the most common:

North America is also home to a great diversity of native bees (nearly 4,000 species) as well as a few non-native bees (30 species, including the European honey bee). Here are some that you might encounter in the field: