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Why do bees/pollinators pollinate other plants?
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Bees make excellent pollinators because most of their life is spent collecting pollen, a source of protein that they feed to their developing offspring. When a bee lands on a flower, the hairs all over the bees' body attract pollen grains through electrostatic forces.
Basically plants have coevolved with these pollinating insects. Plants that can develop the best pollen that sticks to these insects are able to reproduce more successfully. While bees, as the example, are collecting it as there food. Bees are not "helping" the plant knowingly, its more of the plant is hitching a ride.
https://www.canr.msu.edu/nativeplants/pollination/
So, the plants found a way to hijack the bees' journey by putting some extra pollen on them to take to other flowers, since they're already there taking pollen anyway? That's awesome.
https://youtube.com/shorts/IhYtwBA3NNs
Secondary comment, still not an expert...
But even if there were no bugs on the planet, I'm pretty sure a good stiff breeze would still make pollen move...
The flowers are also evolving to spread pollen to reproduce. Flowers have evolved to be bright, colorful and have pollen that bees want. Flowers are able to get there pollen spread and bees get food.
Were those hairs evolutionarily selected for because they help the bees spread their food source, or do they serve another purpose?
Ha I was writing another comment on this thread when this got posted, but I just feel like it's important, relevant to that, to say that the hairs didn't evolve FOR any specific purpose.
Well said. Evolution doesn't have a goal. I ran into the difficulty when teaching is that students tended to assign purpose to mutations that are currently beneficial.
Possibly when furrier bees evolved, it could be that the fur was protecting them from harsh weather conditions and allowing them to fly further and making it to more flowers. The fur builds electrostatic forces as the bee went along with its day. Serving another beneficail purpose by attracting more pollen to stick onto their bodies. The bees also use the fur to wipe pollen from their eyes and off their legs.
Essentially furrier bees were more successful at feeding their offspring than non-fur bees. Which was selecting for even furrier bees in the following generations continuing to the furry honeybees we see today.
I would point out that the furry bees transfer more pollen, which leads to more of the plants and ultimately flowers that the bee likes.
Therefore the furry bees have an advantage by increasing their own food supply.