Can flowers communicate with pollinators?

The goal of every living organism, including plants, is to create offspring for the next generation. One of the ways that plants can produce offspring is by making seeds. Plants cannot produce seeds unless they are fertilized through pollination. Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the stamen to the pistil of the flower.

Research shows that over 75% of all the world's flowering plants need help with pollination. Most of this work is done by pollinators: bees, butterflies, bats, birds, moths, flies, and small mammals. Pollinators are responsible for pollination on more than 1,200 crops that people eat every day around the world. It is estimated that one in three bites of food is only available because of the hard work of pollinators.

Honey bee colonies are made up of one queen bee, a small number of male drone bees, and thousands of female worker bees. The female worker bees perform all the important duties to keep the hive healthy. These tasks include taking care of the young, protecting the hive, and bringing back nectar and pollen and turning them into honey for the hive to eat. The queen bee is responsible for laying eggs that will become the next generation of bees in the hive.

Yes! Every spring, monarchs migrate from the mountains of Michoacan, Mexico to the prairies of Illinois. It actually takes two or three generations of butterflies to complete their migration. Then, in late summer, a "super generation" of monarchs emerges from their chrysalises to make the 2,500 mile journey back to their winter homes in Mexico. The amazing part is that these butterflies are the great-grandchildren of the monarchs who flew north. They've never been to Mexico themselves, but they still know exactly where to go.

In Illinois, we have many different types of important pollinators. There are over 400 species of native Illinois bees. Butterflies are also important pollinators, along with beetles and flies. Birds also help pollinate many flowers. In some places in the world, bats are important pollinators, but the bat species we have in Illinois do not help with pollination. The wind can also be an important pollinator for some crops, such as corn.

No, honey bees are not native to anywhere in the United States. They are an important pollinators for many agricultural crops, but we have hundreds of native bee species here in Illinois that are vital to pollination. These include bumble bees, carpenter bees, cuckoo bees, mason bees, and many more. Many of our native bee species create nests in the ground to hatch their young.

We can do a variety of things to help our pollinators thrive. We can plant native plants in our yards and at our schools. Pollinators need nectar and pollen sources throughout the entire growing season. We can create nesting places for bees, such as piles of brush or even create "bee houses" from recycled materials. Monarch caterpillars must have milkweed plants to survive, so we can plant more milkweed in our communities. We can also talk to others about how important pollinators are to our everyday lives.