FIVE TYPES OF POLLEN TRANSPORT
Meet the main players in pollination
Insects
Bees are the most efficient and well-known pollinators, having evolved to grow fine, branching hairs ideal for collecting pollen. However, thrips are the earliest known pollinators. Fossils of these millimetre-long winged insects have been found covered in pollen dating back 250 million years. Meanwhile, beetles are responsible for pollinating 88 per cent of the world’s flowering plants, as sticky pollen grabs hold of their hard exoskeletons.
Reptiles
Usually occurring within island ecosystems where reptiles often feast on fruit and nectar as part of their diet, lizards unknowingly carry pollen that has stuck to their scales. In desert landscapes, sometimes lizards rely on the nectar of cactuses to drink when water becomes too scarce. As they drink from the plant, they collect pollen on their bodies.
Mammals
There are many mammals that play a part in various flowering plants’ survival. During the night, bats pollinate hundreds of flowers by covering their furry faces in pollen. One tree in particular – the baobab tree – relies almost completely on this mammal for pollination, opening its flowers at night for this purpose. One of the largest pollinators is the black lemur, which pushes its fluffy snout or paw into flowers to find nectar.
Birds
Sunbirds, hummingbirds and parrots are among the bird species playing their role in pollination. Flowers pollinated by hummingbirds are often bright red in colour. These birds are attracted to red and are more likely to search for nectar inside these flowers. Bird-pollinated plants will often be long and tubular in shape. As a bird reaches inside with its long beak, its head gets dusted in pollen.
Wind
Not all pollinators are animals. Anemophily is the term used to describe the distribution of pollen by the wind.
Plants relying on this method are less adapted to attract animal species and better adapted to increase the likelihood of transportation within air currents. Pollen will be lightweight and will be produced in large numbers. This makes it more likely that some of the pollen carried away will reach another plant.