Impact of Pollinators in Rangelands. months. Insects are vital to humans, and without them, humans would disappear, too. Insects

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1 Alger 1 April Alger Impact of Pollinators in Rangelands E.O. Wilson, an american biologist, said If we were to wipe out insects alone on this planet, the rest of life and humanity with it would mostly disappear from the land. Within a few months. Insects are vital to humans, and without them, humans would disappear, too. Insects and other creatures such as bats and birds, while small, have a large impact and this impact is pollination. Approximately three-quarters of all existing flowering plants engage in some level of plant pollinator interaction (Harmon). Pollination of plants provides food for other creatures, genetic diversity within the plant species, and increased crop quality. Before learning about the benefits, one needs to understand what pollination is. Pollination is the act of transferring pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma (What is Pollination?). This act is necessary to germinate the seeds in order to create offspring for the next generation. Flowers must rely on vectors to move pollen. These vectors can include wind, water, birds, insects, butterflies, bats, and other animals that visit flowers. The pollinator is often eating or collecting pollen for its protein and other nutritional characteristics or it is sipping nectar from the flower when pollen grains attach themselves to the animal s body. When the animal visits another flower for the same reason, pollen can fall off onto the flower s stigma and may result in successful reproduction of the flower (What is Pollination?). Pollination is not just a process done by honey bees, as many other animals can be vectors as well. When they visit the flowers for food, pollen will attach to the vector and when the next flower is visited, pollen will be exchanged. Plants provide the food for these vectors in

2 Alger 2 exchange of pollination. Without pollination of the plant, the plant may bloom abundantly, but will not bear any fruit. The most impactful benefit of pollinators is that they provide food. In a visually stimulating article published by The Huffington Post titled, This is What Your Grocery Store Looks Like Without Bees (Photos), there are images of a Whole Foods Market with and without the foods that are produced with the help of pollinators such as honey bees. The store ditched a shocking 237 items, or 52 percent of the normal product mix (Visser). This is one way that companies are showing how important bees are to our food supply. While most of the foods in the grocery store are produced agriculturally and not on rangelands, the same inferences can be applied. A rangeland, which is open country used for grazing or hunting animals, is like the grocery store for many of the animals that live on it. For example, many migratory songbirds require a diet of berries, fruits, and seeds from insect-pollinated plants and pollinator larvae are an important component of the diet of many young birds (Black). The plants that are pollinated provide the food sources necessary for creatures to survive, such as these song birds. Humans are animals too and Pollinated crops include those that provide fruit, vegetables, seeds, nuts and oils. Many of these are important dietary sources of vitamins and minerals, without which the risks of malnutrition might be expected to increase (Lumpar). Unfortunately, animals can t live off of just air and water. These crops provide the nutritional resources necessary to stay healthy. Lack of these would result in malnutrition at all trophic levels. Pollinators provide the feed and nutritional requirements necessary to staying alive.

3 Alger 3 These food sources that pollinators provide also have a monetary value. Several crops also represent an important source of income in developing countries from, for example, the production of coffee and cocoa (Lumpar). Pollinators facilitate the growth of these products when pollinating the plants. If there were no pollinators, some of these countries wouldn t have a source of income. The USDA estimated that crops dependent on pollination are worth more than $10 billion per year (Why is Pollination Important for Wildflowers?). Pollinators provide economic value, and most of it is food value. Many people depend on the profits gained in these food crops whether it be for human consumption or feed for other animals. In addition to food crops, pollinators contribute to crops that provide biofuels (e.g. canola and palm oils), fibers (e.g cotton), medicines, forage for livestock, and construction materials. Some species also provide materials such as beeswax for candles and musical instruments, and arts and crafts (Lumpar). All of these byproducts can then be sold for profit. These byproducts would not exist without the benefit of pollinators helping to create these products. Pollination helps increase plant genetic diversity. In order to maintain the diversity of our natural ecosystems, we need healthy pollinator populations to ensure that the next generation of plants will be produced (What are pollinators and why do we need them?). Pollinators are required to help produce the next generation of plants. Not just any pollinators, but a healthy pollinator population. Unhealthy pollinator populations, meaning small and dwindling, will not be able to pollinate as many plants resulting in fewer plants being produced. Unlike animal pollinators, wind-pollinated plants do not exchange as much genetic material with genetically different individuals, and this can ultimately hurt the plant population (Harmon). While the wind is a vector for pollinating plants, it is not as effective for exchanging genetic information. Due to less genetically diverse plants, these plants would then be more susceptible to disease.

4 Alger 4 Thus pollinators provide a way to exchange more genetic material over greater distances. This is particularly important in the maintenance of rare and endangered plant species (Harmon). Rare and endangered species are not always located near each other. Plants are undergoing extinction at a rapid rate and therefore there is less genetic diversity. Pollinators are able to specifically target and successfully pollinate these plants which then provides the genetic diversity and a greater survival rate. Crop quality and quantity can be improved with cross pollination. Cross-pollination will result in more pods and more seeds per pod than self pollination (Alfalfa (Medicago sativa). Cross pollination creates more seeds. More seeds lead to more plants, which in turn creates a greater genetic diversity and food. For example, seeds from cross-pollinated oilseed plants can have higher oil content than those from self-pollinated plants (Why manage pollination?). Oilseed plants produce more product when they are cross pollinated compared to when they are self-pollinated. This provides more food for other creatures. If pollinators are not present plants can have poor reproductive success because they produce fewer seeds when they receive less pollen (Harmon). When plants receive less pollen due to fewer pollinators, plants will not produce as much. This results in less plants to exchange pollen with and less food for other animals. Yields of some fruit, seed and nut crops decrease by more than 90% without these pollinators (Klein). Pollinators are helping to produce food and lack of them can result in almost a 90% decrease in food yield. Less yield produced by these plants results in less food meaning there is more competition for food because less is produced. As a result, pollinators are a major importance to the rangeland ecosystems by providing food, crop quality and genetic diversity. Without them, many ecosystems would begin to fall apart, much like the fig tree, which is an important species in tropical ecosystems. It s foliage

5 Alger 5 supports a variety of insects, for example butterfly larvae. The fig fruit is food for many different types of birds, including toucans and parrots, and for bats, monkeys and sometimes fish (in nearby rivers). The fig tree itself give habitat to a diversity of insects, rodents, reptiles and amphibians. A tree that supports so much life is not independent of anything else. It depends on a certain wasp for the pollination of its fruit and seed -- in other words -- for its reproduction. The entire food chain just described is in the "hands" of two species of fig wasps. Without the specific pollinator the food chain would fall apart and in turn would affect the rest of the tropical ecosystem (Pollination and the Ecosystem: How it Works). A whole ecosystem is reliant on a singular fig tree which in turn is reliant on a specific pollinator. If this pollinator were to disappear, so would this ecosystem and this is just one of many types of examples. Unfortunately, while the topic of colony collapse is often discussed regarding honey bees, the decline of pollinators and how they help in rangelands is not widely discussed. Researchers are beginning to do more research on them by using acoustic monitoring on microphones that are on ipad minis. The foraging bees can create vibrations, or buzzes, of between 120 and 400 hertz in flight (Bettermann). These vibrations can then be translated into the population numbers of pollinators in that area. This method is more effective than field studies which are limited due to certain factors such as weather and area. Soon this method of collecting data will be available for the public to use. Another way that rangeland owners are able to help pollinators is by participating in programs such as the emerging program called the Monarch Butterfly Habitat Exchange, which rewards them for restoring and enhancing monarch habitat in field edges, buffer zones, marginal lands and rangelands (Opinion: Monarchs need Airbnb for butterflies or they ll go extinct ). This program gives money to those that are planting large areas of milkweed to help increase the monarch butterfly population. This is just one of many

6 Alger 6 programs and programs like these are to help promote the growth of pollinator populations. It is clear that pollinators are of great importance to our society and rangelands; without them life would not be the same. Works Cited Alfalfa (Medicago sativa). Best Management Practices for Pollination in Ontario Crops. Accessed 10 Sept Bettermann, Danielle. Catching the buzz: acoustic monitoring of bees could determine pollination services. Mongabay News & Inspiration From Nature s Frontline, Conservation news, 13 July Accessed 15 Sept Black, Scott Hoffmann, et al. Rangeland Managment for Pollinators. Journal of Range Managment, vol. 33, no. 3, June Harmon, Jason P., et al. An Overview of Pollination in Rangelands: Who, Why, and How. Journal of Rangemanagment, vol. 33, no. 3, June Accessed 10 Sept Klein, Alexandra-Maria, et al. Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, vol. 274, no. 1608, 7 Feb Accessed 11 Sept Lumpar, Kuala. Pollinators vital to our food supply under threat. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO, 26 Feb Accessed 15 Sept Opinion: Monarchs need Airbnb for butterflies or they ll go extinct [San Jose]. 19 Sept Accessed 27 Sept Pollination and the Ecosystem: How it Works. Seeds of Diversity, Seeds of Diversity Canada. Accessed 15 Sept Visser, Nick. This Is What Your Grocery Store Looks Like Without Bees (PHOTOS). Huffington Post, 17 June Accessed 27 Sept What are pollinators and why do we need them? PennState College of Agricultural Sciences Department of Entomology, College of Agricultural Sciences. Accessed 15 Sept What is Pollination? United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Accessed 10 Sept Why is Pollination Important for Native Wildflowers? United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Accessed 10 Sept Why Manage Pollination? Best Management Practices for Pollination in Ontario Crops. Accessed 10 Sept