Solstice Bounty

On solstice Sunday I set off to do some errands and meander country roads. Before I went a half mile, I saw these bumble bees (probably Bombus impatiens according to my bee consultant) and a lone male Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) feasting on nectar in a patch of Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Later, at the entry to the hardware store, I feasted my eyes on flats of annuals, blazing in every color. On my way home, sweet local cherries at a roadside stand made for another kind of feast! It occurs to me that we have insects to thank for so much beauty and bounty in our world.

Our native pollinators like bumblebees, solitary bees, flies, wasps, beetles, butterflies and moths are important to the production of many crops, including sweet cherries. All grasses, many trees and other plants depend on the wind to distribute pollen. But up to a third of the foods that make up our diet depend on insects for pollination including apples, almonds, blueberries, broccoli, cucumbers, peaches, soybeans, strawberries, kiwis, melons, onions, pears, plums and squash. More than half of the fats and oils in our diet owe a debt to insect pollinators.

Certain bats and birds also go after the nectar in flowers, and by doing so, spread pollen. But insects far outdo them. The annual value of the services of native pollinators to U.S. agriculture is estimated between $4.1 and $6.7 billion. Flowering plants provide food not only for humans, but also for animals that in turn provide us with milk or meat. Without our wild pollinators, it is questionable whether humans could survive. Entire ecosystems rest on the relationship between plants and pollinators.

How flowers and insects co-evolved is a fascinating subject. Those plants that depend on wind for pollen dissemination must produce vastly more pollen than those plants that have helpers in the process. Plants have developed colorful blossoms, enticing scents, alluring shapes, and graphic markings to attract these helpers. For example, orchids are famous for their mimicry of female insects of a variety of species. They are able to lure male insects by their odor and appearance. Some plants are pollinated only by one particular species of insect. For example, Darwin predicted that the Comet Orchid of Madagascar, with a deep, seemingly inaccessible nectar source, would have an insect pollinator adapted to reach it. And eventually that insect was identified: a moth with a proboscis that unfurled to awesome proportions.

Biologists tell us that worldwide pollinator populations are waning at an alarming rate. Here in the U.S. more than 50 pollinator species are listed as threatened or endangered. They suffer from the loss and fragmentation of pollinator habitat and the overuse of pesticides.
It would be impossible to replace all the services of native pollinators with those of managed bees. Colonies of bumblebees and honeybees are used commercially in agriculture but are increasingly threatened by disease. Escapees may be spreading disease to native bees.

Anyone who owns property, has a tiny backyard garden, or even a balcony can assist in maintaining habitat -- food, water, shelter and nesting materials--for native pollinators.

When I learned about the importance of native pollinators it underscored how every part of nature is connected to everything else. Now I know that each scrubby pasture, overgrown roadside, or weedy vacant lot is not unproductive. It is home and pantry to multitudes of tiny lives that are crucial to our own existence.