Caring for Pollinators - Bundesamt für Naturschutz

Roubik Small bees have a big job
Save the animals that depend on
pollinators
Unknown to most people, bees and other pollinators literally make
the world go around- their work insures that vegetation, fruit, and
seeds continue to be provided to many different herbivores. The one
shown here, the three-toed sloth Bradypus variegates, eats a lot of
leaves from Cecropia trees, and those trees are pollinated by bees,
including many derived from African Apis mellifera (ibid. Villanueva
and Roubik, 2004).
The End
A little patch of Impatiens growing near coffee farms. Impatiens
provides pollen loaded with the crystals of calcium oxalate- probably
a deterrent to unwanted flower visitors- but nonetheless has orchid
bees visiting its flowers for nectar. There are still countless such
interactions and systems awaiting discovery and explanation, which
may eventually lead to wise management.
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