What is Pollination?
Pollination is the act of transferring pollen grains from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma. The goal of every living organism, including plants, is to create offspring for the next generation. One of the ways that plants can produce offspring is by making seeds. Seeds contain the genetic information to produce a new plant. Flowers are the tools that plants use to make their seeds. The basic parts of the flower are shown in the diagram below. Seeds can only be produced when pollen is transferred between flowers of the same species. A species is defined a population of individuals capable of interbreeding freely with one another but because of geographic, reproductive, or other barriers, they do not interbreed with members of other species. How does pollen get from one flower get from one flower to another? Flowers must rely on vectors to move pollen. These vectors can include wind, water, birds, insects, butterflies, bats, and other animals that visit flowers. We call an
Pollination is the process through which plants reproduce, by ensuring that male gametes are spread to female gametes, allowing the plant to produce seeds which will in turn develop into new plants. The process of pollination is important to people in a number of fields, including gardeners, farmers, and biologists, all of whom rely on pollination and the resulting fertilization. There are a number of different ways in which pollination can happen, and some plants have evolved very complex techniques for pollination. The male part of the plant, known as the anther, produces pollen, a sticky material which contains genetic material. Pollination occurs when the pollen comes into contact with the ovule, the female part of the plant. In flowering plants, known as angiosperms, the pollen is transferred to the stigma, which transports the pollen to the ovule. In gymnosperms like conifers, the pollen is applied directly to the ovule. Many plants are capable of self-pollinating, which involves
Pollination: The transfer of pollen from the anthers of a flower to the stigma of the same flower or of another flower. Pollination is a prerequisite for fertilization: the fusion of nuclei from the pollen grain with nuclei in the ovule. Fertilization allows the flower to develop seeds. Some flowers will develop seeds as a result of self-pollination, when pollen and pistil are from the same plant, often (but not always) from the same flower. Other plants require cross-pollination: pollen and pistil must be from different plants. Most plants need help moving pollen from one flower to the pistil of another. Wind moves the pollen for some plants such as grasses like corn. Animal pollinators move pollen for many other flowering plants. Pollinator: An animal that moves pollen from the anthers to the stigmas of flowers, thus effecting pollination. Animals that are known to be good pollinators of flowers include bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, some flies, some wasps, and nectar feedin
Pollination is central to successful reproduction in most plants. Simply stated, it is the transfer of pollen grains from the anthers of one flower to the stigmas of the same or another flower.1 Some plants are able to pollinate themselves or are wind-pollinated, but most depend on insects, birds, bats, and other organisms, collectively referred to as pollinators, to transport the pollen for them. The coevolution of pollinators and the pollination process is one of nature’s unique solutions to the dilemma of sexual reproduction among stationary plant organisms. A. Modes of Pollination The transfer of pollen is a vital process for reproduction in the majority of plant speciesflowers that are not pollinated are simply not able to produce fruitsbut moving pollen is not a simple task for plants, which, quite literally, are rooted to the spot. Movement of pollen between flowers on separate plants is called cross-pollination. Movement of pollen within a flower or between flowers on the same
