Posts Tagged ‘pollinators’
Why Pollinators are Important and How to Help
This week is Pollinator Week! Pollinators are everywhere but are very important in Iowa with how much agriculture we have here. Pollinators are so important to the production of food that if they were to all go extinct, we wouldn’t have many of the foods we have today. With over 200,000 different species of pollinators, Read More »
Read MorePollinator myths and misconceptions
Pollinators are a huge topic of conversation in conservation today, and that’s why we have added the Pollinator Paradise addition to the Dickinson County Nature Center. As we enter into discussions about pollinators, we hear a lot of myths and misconceptions. Let’s take a look at a few. 1. I don’t want bees in the Read More »
Read MorePersonality quiz: Which pollinator are you?
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Read More11 pollinators from around the world
The pollinator world goes beyond just butterflies and bees, and it also goes beyond the borders of Iowa and the United States. Pollinators come in many shapes, sizes, colors and species, and they help plant communities around the world survive. (Eight forgotten pollinators) Let’s take a look at some interesting worldwide pollinators. North and South Read More »
Read MoreEight forgotten pollinators
Slugs to flies, moths to beetles — pollinators come in many shapes and sizes beyond butterflies and bees. These pollinators help one-third of human food sources to grow, but some have become so common that they are seen more like pests instead of beneficial insects, and some have even been eradicated to the point of Read More »
Read MoreFoods we wouldn’t have without pollinators
What if you couldn’t have any almonds or cashews in that nut mix you love to snack on? What if you couldn’t eat sesame chicken because sesame didn’t exist anymore? What if bananas, blueberries and tomatoes weren’t on the shelves anymore? One in three bites of food that we take is due to pollinators, and Read More »
Read MoreSix pollinators that aren’t bees or butterflies
We’ve spent a lot of time talking about native bees, honeybees, butterflies and moths — but did you know that there are plenty of other types of pollinators out there? Hummingbirds Hummingbirds love flowers that are tubular, brightly colored, open during the day and have prolific nectar hidden deeply within. The ruby-throated hummingbird is the Read More »
Read MoreNative bees: These bees plastic-wrap their brood cells
Do you love blueberries? Then you should love the genus Colletes of native bees! These are one of several types of native bees that collect pollen from both highbush and lowbush blueberry flowers. Colletes validus has an elongated, narrow head that helps it fit into the tight flower opening where it eats nectar and collects pollen that will be transferred Read More »
Read MoreNative bees: Mason bees are fantastic pollinators
Mason bee (Osmia lignaria) Mason bees might be the best pollinators of all bees. Instead of wetting pollen and putting it in pollen sacs like honeybees, mason bees are covered in hair that collects pollen as they move around, searching for nectar. They can certainly carry a lot of pollen and significant pollinators for apple, cherry Read More »
Read More2019-20 Monarch overwintering numbers released
Each winter, pollinator enthusiasts anxiously await monarch population numbers as eastern populations overwinter in the forests of Mexico. This winter, we have some less than ideal news as monarch overwintering numbers dropped by more than 50 percent from the 2018-19 season — going from 6.05 hectares of overwintering area covered last year to 2.83 hectares Read More »
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