Animals

When visiting flowers, insects can transport pollen among plants. Bees, beetles and wasps participate in this task, explain entomologists Renata Santos and Albano Soares. Many bees live alone, without hive. This general explanation helps to look at flowers with other attention; the species present in Cabeceiras need local records.

Pollen exchanges between individuals contribute to the genetic diversity of plants. The explanation published by Gulbenkian relates pollinators to both wild plants and food crops, including apple trees, almonds and strawberry trees.

The flowers also have less remembered visitors: flower flies, daytime and night butterflies and some beetles. Observe who arrives, how long he stays and where he leaves is a way to start. The record of a visit, however, does not alone demonstrate that the insect has transferred pollen.

In honeybees and bees, pollen can accumulate in a rear-legged area suitable for transport. Other bees use sets of hair on their paws or under their abdomen. The entomologists heard by Gulbenkian explain that during visits to the flowers, part of the grain is on the way. The transport of food to the offspring is thus linked to pollination. It is a general explanation, without identifying an insect observed in the municipality. The color of the load also varies: experts refer to yellow, red or blue pollen, according to the plant of origin.

The scope is this set of hairs that works as a transport brush. The source also refers to groups that carry pollen in one part of the digestive tract and others that use the nests of other bees. Therefore, not all the relationship between a bee and pollen is presented as a visible load on the paws. What you see in a visit to the flower is only part of the story.