Knowra Pollinator Pollinator A pollinator is an animal that transfers pollen between flowers, often while feeding. This movement can enable fertilization and seed production in flowering plants.
Pollination : The transfer of pollen to a plant’s receptive reproductive surface, enabling fertilization in many plants. Pollinators are animal agents of this broader process.
Pollen : A powder of plant-produced grains that carry the male gametophytes of seed plants. It is the material pollinators transport between flowers.
Crop pollination : The transfer of pollen among crop flowers that contributes to fruit or seed production. Animal pollinators provide this service for many cultivated crops.
Honey bee : A social bee species, Apis mellifera, managed worldwide for honey and crop pollination. Its managed colonies make it one of the most familiar agricultural pollinators.
Plant fertilization : The fusion of plant gametes that forms a zygote, commonly following pollen delivery to a receptive surface. Successful animal-mediated pollen transfer can make fertilization possible.
Flower : The reproductive structure of flowering plants, often containing pollen-producing and pollen-receiving parts. Its shape and rewards influence how animals contact and transfer pollen.
Angiosperm : A flowering plant that produces seeds enclosed within an ovary. Most familiar pollination interactions occur between animals and flowering plants.
Pollination management : The planned use and care of pollinators to support crop production. Farmers manage habitats and colonies to improve pollinator access to crops.
Bumblebee : A robust, usually social bee in the genus Bombus, with a hairy body suited to collecting pollen. Bumblebees pollinate diverse plants and can release pollen through buzz pollination.
Seed dispersal : The movement of seeds away from their parent plant by animals, wind, water, or other means. Pollination can lead to seeds whose later dispersal extends plant populations.
Show all 27