Text and photos except where noted by Paula Gross reporting for Native Plant News
We love ‘em. Hummingbirds, butterflies, even bees: hovering and dipping into a Cardinal Flower, fluttering and flirting with a Joe-Pye-weed, burrowing a fuzzy little body into a beardtongue. If we are so charmed by nature on the wing, is it even necessary to answer the question of WHY they are important? Isn’t it enough that they’ve buzzed their way into the gardening psyche such that pollinator gardens and planting for the pollinators is practically mainstream? These creatures have been the nose of the camel that pushed open the tent of native plant gardening to a much wider audience. More people growing native plants in gardens sounds like progress to me. Yet having that audience is precisely the reason that now is the time to let the pollinators speak, through us and to us. The answer to WHY they are important is profound. It goes far beyond the tug of childhood memories and the beauty of their forms and colors to something more fundamental–biodiversity.
As essential matchmakers, they assure the genetically diverse reproduction of over 75% of the flowering plants on earth. Their diversity and numbers underpin magnitudes of orders of biodiversity in ecosystems across the planet through their critical role in the reproduction of plants. Without their services, the web-of-life as we know it would disintegrate.
The word is out there, for those ready to listen. National organizations like Pollinator Partnership, the Xerces Society, and The National Wildlife Federation have robust programs and readily available resources to educate and inspire action to support pollinator populations. Local efforts and organizations are springing up across the country. The Butterfly Highway and BeeCity USA began in Charlotte and Asheville, respectively. The message from Pollinator Partnership is simple and clear, “Pollinators need you. You need pollinators.”
As naturalists, gardeners, and protectors of our native flora, we are well-poised to spread the word and inspire others to deeply understand why pollinators are key to ecosystem and human health, and how we can act to preserve them. My hope is this article will help with those communications and actions.
The ABCs of pollination and pollinators
It’s always a good idea to start with biology. Let’s do a quick review of the WHAT of pollination and pollinators. Pollination is simply the movement of pollen from the male flower parts (anthers) to the surface of the female flower part (stigma). This depositing of pollen begins the process of sexual reproduction, and leads to fruit and seed development. Seeds grow into the next generation. Effective reproduction (beginning with effective pollination) is fundamental! No two flowering species are identical and there are varied ways flowers are “constructed” to accomplish effective pollination. However, three-quarters of the flowering plant species both worldwide and natively require the help of a creature to move that pollen from one flower to another. Pollinators are attracted to these species to feed on nectar and pollen, and end up accomplishing pollination for plants incidentally. The other one-quarter of flowering plants depend on the whimsy of wind or they regularly self-fertilize (one flower pollinates itself). Even some (not all) of the 75% that utilize pollinators can self-fertilize in a pinch. But self-fertilization is not a great long-term strategy.
Pollinators are accomplishing cross-fertilization between plants. This seemingly small detail has a huge impact in the form of genetic diversity carried within their seeds. Genetic diversity allows populations of a species to respond, over the long-run, to a variety of challenges (and challenges are only increasing). This is a significant benefit of pollinator action. The pollinators playing this key role in plant reproduction are primarily insects, with hummingbirds and bats swooping in for a little limelight, as well. Among insect pollinators, bees are superstars. We often hear about the cultivated European Honey Bee, and it is still crucial for commercial fruit crops, but North Carolina is home to over 500 species of native bees that forage nectar and pollen from native plants across all habitats. Beyond our flora, these native bees may one day need to play a larger role commercially, as well.
We need pollinators. We need pollinators locally and worldwide in order to have fruits, “vegetables” that are actually fruits, and some seed crops to eat. This includes our beloved coffee and chocolate. An often quoted statistic is that one in three bites of food has required the services of a pollinator to be produced1.
We need pollinators because we need healthy ecosystems. Ecosystems require seeds and most seeds need pollinators (to start their formation). Our shrinking wild places need fertile, genetically diverse seeds of their native plants being produced and dispersed. Without diverse seeds in the seedbank of the soil, ecosystems cannot regenerate. Strong ecosystems sequester carbon, prevent soil erosion, filter water, and produce oxygen. Let that sink in.
We need pollinators because we need biodiversity. A diversity of pollinators supports a diversity of plants, and plant diversity supports animal diversity. Everything is connected, but pollinators are especially important threads in the web-of-life.
It’s crystal clear. Our health depends on them. How do they depend on us?
Pollinators need us because their populations, especially insects, are in significant decline. Habitat loss, pollution, invasive non-native species, and the widespread use of non-targeted pesticides are the main culprits. Unfortunately, we have everything to do with all four. But also fortunately, as it means we can act differently and affect outcomes. Climate change and disease (which is promoted when organisms are weakened or under stress due to the previous) are also factors. Pollinators need us to adjust our actions so they have what they need to live and thrive.
What pollinators need from us
Insect pollinators need us. They need us to drastically reduce our use of pesticides. Especially non-selective insecticides, especially neonicotinoid pesticides like imidacloprid. Evidence is increasing about the far-ranging consequences of this persistent, systemic, non-selective pesticide to the point that some are calling what’s happening a second “Silent Spring.” I believe home gardeners can easily say no to pesticides. On our scale, we have other options (like hand/physical control) and we can tolerate the bumps and bruises of allowing the web-of-life to work out a balance of pests and beneficials.
Pollinators need us. They need us to preserve habitat. Land conservation, especially in less impacted habitats, is at the top of my list whenever asked about the health of our planet as a whole. The Catawba Lands Conservancy (one of many local land trusts in NC) and the Nature Conservancy (regionally and worldwide) are worth supporting. But even highly impacted habitats like roadsides and powerline right-of-ways could become excellent insect pollinator habitats if we just limited mowing to once or twice a year (at the right time) and only used herbicide selectively to spot spray woody species. Some states’ Department of Transportation, like neighboring TN and VA have given pollinators more than just lip service with some modified mowing and planting programs. While there’s much more that could be done, these are a start and can be used as models for other states and municipalities. Keep talking about this and sharing specific examples with decision-makers.
Bringing it back to where we began, pollinators need us to plant pollinator gardens, filling our landscapes with native plant species that support them. Our gardens can serve as mini refugia for both plants and pollinators. Nature is resilient, but in order to repopulate, there must be a critical number of any particular species to spark the wildfires of restoration. Lists abound for gardeners ready to choose native plants that support both adult pollinators and their larvae (pollinators have to reproduce too!). While perennials get most of the attention, some shrubs and trees provide nectar. An oak may be wind-pollinated, but its leaves provide food for hundreds of insect species’ larvae, including some pollinators like hairstreaks (whose adults you’ll attract with natives like Pycnanthemum species). When choosing pollinator plants, consider larval food, along with nectar sources for all three active seasons. If you have the Southeast Native Plant Primer, I’ve provided such a list on pages 25-26. Or follow one of these links for more lists geared towards home gardens: ncwf.org, NC Cooperative Extension, Meck Co. Audubon Society have compiled some great resources, as well. Expand your pollinator plantings a little more each year and give pollinator plants to friends. Communicate the value of your pollinator garden with habitat certification signs. Create one of your own, like “My garden feeds pollinators, and pollinators feed you!”
Pollinators need us to be outdoors amongst them. They need us to bring our children to less-human impacted places to experience them and the interconnections of life with all their senses. Experience inspires learning. “In the end, we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand” (Baba Dioum).
So why are pollinators important? Why do they matter? Because when you tug on the thread of their lives, the whole of our world moves. They are beauty on the wing and they carry the strength of biodiversity, from flower to flower to flower. They live in the world that deep in our hearts we want and deep in our bones we know we belong to.
1Klein Alexandra-Maria, et al., Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops, 2007 Proc. R. Soc. B.274303–313.
Paula Gross, M.S., is an educator and botanist who has spent her career connecting plants and people through formal and informal education from adults and college students to preschoolers. She is the co-author of the Southeast Native Plant Primer and Bizarre Botanicals, and the former associate director of the University of North Carolina Charlotte Botanical Gardens. Her message of hope for individual and planet is in the profound understanding that we are Nature, not separate from it. This is what inspires her to write, teach, and consult on botanical, horticultural, and mindfulness topics.