More than 150 crops in the U.S. require pollination for seed production!
1 in 3 bites of food is the direct result of pollinator activity. Pollinators and other insects are in decline around the world because of increased pesticide use and habitat fragmentation from urban and agricultural development. See how you can be a part of changing the landscape and grow native Nebraska prairie plants.
What is Pollination?
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the flower’s male reproductive organs or structures to the flower’s female reproductive organs or structures, resulting in seed production. More than 150 crops in the U.S. require pollination for seed production! Most pollination services are provided by insects, wind, and other animals like birds.
Why is pollination important?
Any plant that grows from a seed depends on pollination – depositing a pollen grain is what gets the process started. All fruit forms around seeds like a protective carrying case; incomplete pollination leads to less-developed fruit which means smaller or misshapen apples, cucumbers or tomatoes. It can even mean no fruit development at all!
Pollination is required to exchange new genetic information. By our hand or by accident, this is how we can get new varieties, growing traits and disease resistance. Without pollination, more populations of plants would be at risk of total loss from a single pathogen.
Who are pollinators?
Most insect pollination is done by bees, flies, moths, butterflies, and beetles. There has been much attention given to the decline of our pollinators. The causes of their decline are numerous: loss of habitat, improper use of pesticides, poor nutrition, and disease.
Why is habitat important?
Besides increased pesticide use, one of the most significant impacts on native pollinators and other animals is habitat loss, specifically by habitat fragmentation. Every new building, parking lot, road and farm separates potential food and nesting sources. As a result, pollinator populations decline in urban and agricultural areas for the simple fact that there is nothing there for them.
Description of the Certification Program
Extension’s Nebraska Pollinator Habitat Certification program is meant to increase the number of fragments accessible to pollinators. The goal is to return as much available space as possible to the historical native prairie that local and migratory pollinators evolved with over millions of years. By providing season-long, high quality food and nesting resources, the program aims to stabilize regional ecosystems and boost pollination success of locally grown foods.
Nebraska Certified Pollinator Habitat Map
Between 25% to 60% of green spaces in urban areas are residential. "In urban areas, wild bees are often more abundant than honeybees, but high-quality bee habitats may be scarce..." Amelie Davis.
According to a study done by Nicholas Tew and their colleagues they found that the size of the pollinator habitat did not correlate with the amount of resources provided to pollinators. They found that garden quality, not the size, had the best benefit for pollinators. [Turnover in floral composition explains species diversity and temporal stability in the nectar supply of urban residential gardens; Journal of Applied Ecology].
