POLLINATORS IN PERIL
Summer is a wonderful time of the year. The birds are singing, bees are buzzing and the pleasant aroma of flowers wafts the air. One of the main factors of this pleasant weather are the organisms known as pollinators present in our environment. Pollinators, such as birds, bees, butterflies, bats, small mammals, etc., visit flowers to drink nectar and feed off of their pollen and transport the grains from one plant to another so as to start pollination. This allows the plant to reproduce and form seeds, berries, fruits and other plant food and is the beginning of a massive food chain. They also sustain our ecosystems and produce our natural resources by helping plants reproduce. Pollinating animals travel from plant to plant carrying pollen on their bodies in a vital interaction that allows the transfer of genetic material critical to the reproductive system of most flowering plants Pollinators assist with reproducing over 80% of the world’s flowering plants. 5% of the world’s...