Eric Mader, University of Minnesota Crops Need Bees Bees and other pollinators are important to our environment, providing essential services for the production of more than two-thirds of the world's crop species. This includes products we can grow in our backyard gardens, like apples and squash, but also things like alfalfa seed- creating forage sources for America's meat and dairy industries.
Gardens Pollinators require two essential components in their habitat: somewhere to nest and flowers from which to gather nectar and pollen. Native plants are undoubtedly the best source of food for pollinators, because plants and their pollinators have coevolved. Many varieties of garden plants are also good for these important insects.
Pollinators are responsible for assisting over 80% of the world's flowering plants. Without them, humans and wildlife wouldn't have much to eat or look at! Animals that assist plants in their reproduction as pollinators include species of ants, bats, bees, beetles, birds, butterflies, flies, moths, wasps, as well as other unusual animals.
The Pollinator Partnership is working to protect pollinators and their habitat with projects all over the United States and globally. We have a lot of stories to share!
What do pollinators do? Pollination, the transfer of pollen from the anthers of a flower to the stigma of the same flower or of another flower, is vital to our food supply. Insects and other animals are a key element in facilitating this transfer.
