What is a Pollinator?
A pollinator is anything that helps carry pollen from the male part of the flower (stamen) to the female part of the same or another flower (stigma). The movement of pollen must occur for the plant to become fertilized and produce fruits, seeds, and young plants. Some plants are self-pollinating, while others may be fertilized by pollen carried by wind or water. Still, other flowers are pollinated by insects and animals, such as bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, birds, flies, and small mammals, including bats.
Insects and other animals such as bats, beetles, and flies visit flowers in search of food, shelter, nest-building materials, and sometimes even mates. Some pollinators, including many bee species, intentionally collect pollen. Others, such as many butterflies, birds, and bats, move pollen accidentally. Pollen sticks on their bodies while they are drinking or feeding on nectar in the flower blooms and is transported unknowingly from flower to flower, resulting in pollination. -National Park Service
Why are Pollinators Important?
Somewhere between 75% and 95% of all flowering plants on Earth need help with pollination – they need pollinators. Pollinators provide pollination services to over 180,000 different plant species and more than 1200 crops. That means that 1 out of every three bites of food you eat is there because of pollinators. If we want to talk dollars and cents, pollinators add 217 billion dollars to the global economy, and honey bees alone are responsible for between 1.2 and 5.4 billion dollars in agricultural productivity in the United States. In addition to the food that we eat, pollinators support healthy ecosystems that clean the air, stabilize soils, protect from severe weather, and support other wildlife. -Pollinator Partnership
What is the Status of Pollinators?
Pollinator populations are changing. Many pollinator populations are in decline, and this decline is attributed most severely to a loss of feeding and nesting habitats. Pollution, the misuse of chemicals, disease, and changes in climatic patterns are all contributing to shrinking and shifting pollinator populations. In some cases, there isn’t enough data to gauge a response, and this is even more worrisome. -Pollinator Partnership
Pollinator Populations are Dropping
Habitats that pollinators need in order to survive are shrinking. As native vegetation is replaced by roadways, manicured lawns, crops, and non-native gardens, pollinators lose the food and nesting sites that are necessary for their survival. Remaining patches of prairie and meadow have become more disconnected. That makes it harder for pollinators to reach new breeding sites or find better habitat.
Migratory pollinators face special challenges. If the distance between the suitable habitat patches along their migration route is too great, smaller, weaker individuals may die during their journey.
Invasive plants crowd out native ones, reducing food and shelter for pollinators. Disease-causing organisms— including viruses, fungi, and bacteria — can spread from non-native to native pollinators. Other stressors, such as poor nutrition and pesticide exposure, may intensify the effects of diseases.
While pesticides can help control crop pests and invasive species, improper use can harm pollinators and other wildlife. Use pesticides only when necessary. Use the minimum amount required to be effective and target the application so that only the intended pest is affected.
You can reduce risks to pollinators from insect and plant pest control by using integrated pest management on your land.
Flowers are blooming earlier as temperatures warm, costing some pollinators the opportunity to feed. Some insects feed only on specific plants; if these blooms die before insects arrive, the insects go hungry, and fewer plants get pollinated.
Rising temperatures may be contributing to a decline in bumblebees. the number of North American bumblebees has fallen nearly 50 percent since 1974. The biggest losses have occurred in places where temperatures have risen the most.
Other climate change effects — more flooding, shorter fire cycles, and the spread of invasive species — threaten native habitats. This may directly affect pollinators if the host plant that a pollinator needs to survive is overtaken by another plant species.
As of June 15, 2020, there are more than 70 species of pollinators currently listed as endangered or threatened.
For more information on threats to pollinators, see Status of Pollinators in North America, a 2007 report from the National Academy of Science.
Learn more about how climate change is affecting wildlife, plants, and their habitats, and how we are responding through adaptation and mitigation.
This section is from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
So What Can You Do?
Information gathered from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
