Name:

© University of Georgia, 2006GEN Y 1 • M 1

Pollination ____________________ is a very important

process even though it can be quite bothersome when pollen

flies freely and makes us sneeze during the allergy season!

We must be thankful for pollen, though, because without it we would

not have any plants. Pollination occurs when pollen from the male

part of a flower ___________, the stamen, is transferred to a female

part of the flower, the stigma. This happens in a few different

ways. Many grasses and grains (wheat, corn, rice) and

some trees (pines, oak, maples) have pollen that is so light

that it can be carried by water or the wind. Other plants

______________ need help in the pollination process.

Some pollination workers include bees, butterflies

___________________, beetles, flies, wasps, bats, and

birds. Read on to discover how these animals help

pollinate flowers and help plants survive!

What would the world be like if there were no pollinators?

POLLINATIONAn eco-service provided by ecosystems

throughout Garden Earth English SpanishFlower FlorPollination PolinizaciónPlants PlantasInsect InsectoBird PájaroButterflies MariposasNectar Néctar

Write the Spanish translation every time you see a blank after a word.

Investigating the Pollination Department

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“Hello, I’m Buzzy Bee and I’m going to tell you about Pollination. I bet you are wondering how

I help in the pollination ___________________ of flowers. Well, it’s like this. I fly to a

nice colorful fragrant flower ________ to collect the yummy nectar ____________.

When I land on the flower, some sticky pollen rubs off on me. Then I will fly to another

flower, because I just can’t get enough sweet, delicious nectar, and the pollen brushes off on the

other flower. My pollinator friends and I do this all day. Our work assures that there are plenty of

flowers, trees, and food crops for animals and people to eat.

Did you know that 1/3 of the food Americans eat are pollinated by insects?”

Why should I care about pollinators?What do you think would happen if the world suddenly lost all of its insect

_________________ and bird ______________ pollinators? Put a check next

to each of the products we would not have if all the pollinators stopped doing

their jobs. Check your answers on page 8.

___ Honey ___ Corn

___ Beef ___ Coffee

___ Chocolate ___ Tomatoes

___ Peaches ___ Peanuts

___ Milk ___ T-shirt

Learn more about the protection of pollinators provided by the North American

Pollinator Protection Campaign. www.nappc.org

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A Bee’s Tale

Support Pollination

Department

Workers’ Rights!

We work hard for

our flowers all over

the world!

Suga MagnoliaPollination Department

Manager

I think our pollinators deserve an award!

Check out the life cycle diagram! Can you label the different stages butterflies go through?

(hint: the different stages are underlined above)

Monica Monarch Travels South“Hi! I’m Monica Monarch. Did you know that there are 13 species of butterflies from the United States that migrate to Mexico, Central and South America each year? The monarch butterfly is the most famous of these migrants. We are known for our 3,000 mile round trip flight to and from Mexico. We sometimes travel up to 50 miles a day, at speeds of 12 miles an hour! Our wings get really tired from flapping the whole time, so we are thankful when wind currents help push us along.

Many people enjoy tracking monarch butterflies as we travel across the country. You can see the tag on my lower wing that tells people where I came from. October is when you will see the greatest number of butterflies making our way southward through Georgia.

As the end of summer nears, my adult friends and I build up energy by eating lots of nectar. As we fly along our migration southward, we will stop and drink more nectar to re-energize. Once we arrive at our destination, we are exhausted and go into a period of rest. After a few months, when the days start to get longer again, it is time to make the journey back home. When we get to Texas and other parts of the southern U.S. we start looking for milkweed plants. Milkweed is the only plant that monarch caterpillars will eat, so we must find it when it is time to lay our eggs. Female monarchs lay eggs on the bottom of milkweed plant leaves. In a week or two, a caterpillar emerges from the egg. This is known as the larval stage. Now the caterpillar turns into an eating machine, chomping away on the milkweed plants. When it is finished growing, it stops eating and changes into a chrysalis. It emerges as an adult in 10–14 days. This adult will then continue the migration journey, pollinating all the way home. Whew! What a trip!

Other Migrating Butterflies

Gulf FritillariesRed Admirals

American LadiesSulphurs

Painted Ladies

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Make a Chrysalis/Butterfly PuppetSupplies:

• toilet paper tube • 6” piece of pipe cleaner, folded in half• heavy paper • ice-cream pop stick or tongue depressor• scissors • markers or crayons• glue

What to do: 1. Cut the shape of a butterfly from the heavy paper and color it. Remember that both wings of a butterfly look the same – they’re symmetrical.

2. Put a small hole at the top of the butterfly’s head.

3. Glue the butterfly to one end of the pop stick. Let the glue dry.

4. Color the toilet paper tube to look like a chrysalis. (The monarch butterfly’s chrysalis is green, but you can color it however you like.)

5. Take the piece of pipe cleaner and shape it like the letter “V”. Put one point through the hole in the butterfly’s head and then twist it to look like two antennae.

6. Curl the wings and slide it into the toilet paper tube chrysalis.

7. Pull the stick to make the beautiful butterfly come out of the chrysalis.

8. Fly your butterfly like a real one!

H N E E U U C W Q Y U Y R I J I H N B U

R D A X I V E W L E H A Q X N G E F J O

Y H E G O A D Y D H J K L J H P R O J T

A Y K R T T X V H O H K I I W L B F V T

U I C H I M I E T N N N P O C F I Y D L

X S E P A T O C W U O X E C E S C B U K

M R Y E O D R C P O F M O O F V I U G B

H U M A N D E V E L O P M E N T D S J H

S M R O T S Z D R S A U Q B P H E J D O

Z W G Q X Y V A U R N N R T U E S C R S

N Z Q K C K W I O A L V T O U C A V R P

H Z V Y F M Q Q W C O T T S R B L A T C

R R H N X W D U R X A H B M N N L C O Y

T Y G Q P U R Q B K E F H Z U O U W Z S

R R M O E M S J M I Z L Z B J V K G P R

Plants Not Pavement!

It’s dangerous out there!

Pollinators have many threats to their lives, homes, and food sources as they work to pollinate flowers. Herbicides are chemicals that kill unwanted plants, but many of these weedy plants provide food for our hard working pollinators. Human development such as homes, roads or other buildings often wipes out many trees

and other plants that could provide habitat or a food source for these pollinators. Exotic plants are plants from other countries or areas that may take over the habitat of a native plant. Cars are a threat to pollinators flying along roads as well as weather and storms when the pollinators cannot find shelter. Sometimes pollinators just get tired and cannot fly any more. See how many of these underlined pollinator dangers you can find in the word search below.

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Pollinator at Risk! Good job finding all the pollinator dangers in the word search! Now go outside and see if you can find any of these dangers around your home or school. Make a check mark in the box if you find one of these dangers. What can you do to protect the Pollinators?

Pollinator Dangers Home School

Herbicides

Destroyed habitat (plants, trees, etc.)

Invasive/Exotic plants (Japanese honeysuckle, Kudzu, Privet)

Busy roads

Predators (birds)

Because it doesn’t know the ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ !

It’s a long trip!One of the other pollinators that migrates is the Ruby-throated hummingbird. This amazing bird can fly a 24 hour non-stop trip across the 600 mile stretch of open water from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico to the Gulf coast of North America. Whew! Their wings must get so tired! In preparation for the trip migratory birds will store fat by eating lots of food. Some even double their body weight

before they start on their trip.

Help the hummingbird get to Mexico by filling in the blanks with the correct word. Unscramble the circled letters to finish the hummingbird joke below:

Why does a hummingbird hum?

P O L L I N A T O R S

B I R D

M e x I C O

W I N G S

M I G R A T O R Y

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FALL

SPR

IN

G

Give Bees a Home! Honeybees are important pollination workers in Georgia, especially on farms. Unfortunately this species of bee is from Europe and is taking the place of many native bees in the United States. There are hundreds of native solitary bee species that are very important in the pollination of wild plants and even some crops. Give our native pollinators a hand by making a habitat to give some species of native solitary bees a home and help in the pollination process. (Be careful if you have bee sting allergies.)

Learn more about plants by playing The Great Plant Escape at http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/kids/index.html

Supplies:

• plastic drinking straws • tape• milk carton • nail• glue • hammer

Instructions: 1. Open up a milk carton and fill it with plastic straws so that no room is

left around the straws.

2. Pull the straws our partially and wrap tape around them to keep them stationary.

3. Put some glue on the inside bottom and sides of the carton to attach the straws to the carton.

4. Nail your bee-home into a tree or the side of a building (house or shed) at about 5-6 feet off the ground. A spot that is shaded in the afternoon and sheltered from rain (i.e. under the eaves of a shed) is best.

* May attach ½ inch hardware cloth over the front if squirrels and birds are a problem.

Lesser long-nosed bats are an endangered species that are very important in the pollination of columnar cacti and agaves in Mexico.

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Start digging in the dirt!Here’s a list of plants that pollinators just love! Try planting these in your garden at home or school and get ready for the pollinators!

• ButterfliesSwamp milkweed

Aster Thistle Daisy Purple coneflower

What Can You Do to Help the Pollinators?

Protect the Pollinators• Use pesticides and herbicides only when absolutely necessary. Choose products that are safer for the environment.

• Build a birdhouse and put out feeders.

• Only plant native species in your garden. No invasive plants!

•Be careful not to mow or cut wildflowers or other plants that may provide habitat or food for a pollinator.

• Bees Marigold Daisy Aromatic herbs

• Hummingbirds Cardinal flower Bee balm Century plant Honeysuckle Sage

• Beetles Rose Aster Sunflower

• Caterpillar Host plantsFennel (Swallowtails)

Thistle (Painted lady) Milkweed (Monarch)

Plantain (Buckeye)

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Learn more about pollination with these websites and books:

Websites:

www.monarchwatch.org

http://museum.nhm.uga.edu/kidsclub/htmldocs/homepage2.asp

www.journeynorth.org

Books:

The Magic Circle By Barbara M. Joosse

Flute’s Journey By Lynne Cherry

Magnificent MonarchsBy Linda Glaser

Answers: Why should I care about pollinators?

How many products did you check off? You should have checked all of them. Most fruits, vegetables, and nuts are insect pollinated.

Honey is made from the nectar collected by bees.

Beef. Cows don’t need to be pollinated, but what about the food they eat? The alfalfa and clover they eat are both insect pollinated.

Chocolate comes from Cacao trees in Central and South America and requires tiny insects to pollinate the flowers. No candy bars?!

Peaches, oranges and many other fruits and vegetables rely on insects for pollination.

Milk. Without food to eat, the cows could not produce milk for us to drink.

Coffee trees also need pollinators where they grow in the tropics of Central and South America, Africa, and parts of Asia. Your parents might have a hard time waking up in the morning without their insect pollinated cup of coffee.

Historically, bees were the primary pollinators of peanuts. Today, the majority of peanut crops are hybrids and are self-pollinated. Without these pollinators of the past, we would not have yummy peanut butter for a PB&J today.

Tee-shirts. Well, a tee-shirt does not need pollinating, but the cotton that it is made from does. Many new hybrid cotton plants are also self-pollinated, therefore do not rely on pollinators as heavily.

We probably should thank our little insect pollinators for all their hard work and all that they help to give us!

I like to eat!

Unusual Pollination Workers

• Large island gecko in New Zealand

• Honey possums in Australia

• Black-and-white ruffed lemurs in Madagascar

A pollinator is a creature that carries pollen from one

flower to another.

Can humans be pollinators?

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Garden Earth Naturalist Student Activity PacketsProject Partners: The State Botanical Garden of Georgia • Trees and Plants are Great! Georgia 4-H • The Georgia Museum of Natural History • The Partnership for Reform in Science and Math (PRISM) • The Maquipucuna Foundation, Ecuador.

Project Sponsors: Urban & Community Forestry Grant Program administered by GA Forestry Commission • The Teacher Quality Higher Education Program

Curricula Director – Anne Shenk Curricula Writer – Heather Fleming Editors – Anne Shenk, Carol Hoffman, Barbara Payne Layout/Design/Illustration – William ReevesThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-A, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

© University of Georgia, 2006