HUMAN POLLINATORS
Humans have historically lent a helping hand in plant reproduction, particularly through agriculture. Since ancient times, humans have developed methods of hand pollination for increasing the yield of crops. Around 3,500 BCE in Lower Mesopotamia, the date palm was fertilised by human hands to optimise its fruit production and produce greater yields. Initially this was achieved by simply rubbing the pollen off the male parts of the tree and transferring them to its female counterparts. However, over time human pollination has evolved mechanically. The predominant form of artificial pollination comes from giant mechanical shakers that forcibly loosen pollen from flowering crops, releasing it into the wind for pollination or harvesting it for hand pollination. Water spray containing pollen is also used to deliver harvested pollen.
In recent years, one mechanical pollination method has employed drone technology to mimic the pollen-spreading ability of pollinators. For example, the Dropcopter – an agricultural drone – can fly up to three metres into the air and spray harvested pollen over crop plants for fertilisation. Scientists are also developing and building microrobots that simulate bee pollination. Taking buzz pollination as their inspiration, engineers from both the UK and US are developing tiny bee-like robots to mechanically shake individual flowers to release their pollen. These ‘robo-buzzer’ robots would release a high-frequency sound to vibrate and ultimately release a plant’s pollen from its stamen. Prototypes of the robo-buzzer are the same size as a fingernail and weigh a quarter of a honeybee.
Mechanical pollination may one day become the predominant way crops are fertilised in the future. As the effects of climate change and global warming become more apparent, populations of natural pollinators such as bees and butterflies appear to be heavily hit by a changing world. In European countries alone, at least 37 per cent of the total bee population and 31 per cent of the butterfly population are in decline.
“Humans have developed methods of hand pollination for increasing yields”