The spectrum of animal pollinators is much broader than most people realize. With some 200,000 species world-wide, pollinating approximately 80% of all flowering plants, this group of animals has a profound impact upon the functioning of Earth’s ecology. They are a keystone group of animals and without them our lives would be very different indeed….
Category: Pollinators
The amazing co-evolution of plants and pollinators
When I took that initial foray into beekeeping, I didn’t realize just how amazing the act of pollination really is. Ten years ago I was bug-phobic like so many others in our modern society, but through my husband’s affinity for insects I began to see them differently. I was not a fan, but I learned…
Bombtastic bumblebees
I am a honeybee beekeeper, but the entire spectrum of pollinators fascinates me (this is the driving force behind Runamuk’s message of pollinator conservation). Bumblebees are particularly interesting. Maine is fortunate to have a large diversity of bumbles, like the Orange-Banded and the Rusty-Patch bumblebee. Several species have gone extinct in states southwards, and while…