Who Pollinates That?
A pollinator is an animal that visits flowers for food like nectar, pollen or fruit. As it feeds, pollen grains stick to the animal’s body and are carried to the next flower. Without pollinators, many plants could not reproduce.
Meet Some Important Pollinators
Bees
[Image: Native Australian Stingless Bee with full pollen sacs on its legs]
- Bees are insects
- Bees are one of the most important pollinators
- Australia has hundreds of different types of bees
- Common bees include the European honey bee and native stingless bees
- Bees collect nectar from flowers to take back to their hive
- Not all bees make honey but all bees are pollinators
- As they fly from flower to flower, pollen sticks on their hairy bodies and rubs off and pollinates new flowers
- Pollinated flowers can make fruit with seeds inside which can make new plants
Flying Foxes
[Image: Flying fox with eucalyptus flowers]
- Flying foxes are a type of bat and they are mammals
- Flying foxes are very important pollinators for many Australian native trees
- Flying foxes are nocturnal pollinators, which means they are most active at night
- Flying foxes are pollinators for eucalypts, paperbarks, and banksias
- The trees they pollinate provide flying foxes with food and habitat
- Flying foxes are attracted to pale, fragrant flowers that bloom at night and have a lot of nectar
- As they eat fruit and nectar, pollen sticks to the fur on the chest of a flying fox and can be carried very long distances to pollinate other trees
- Flying foxes also spread seeds by eating fruit and releasing seeds when they poo
Other Important Pollinators
Pollinators come in all shapes and sizes. Each type of pollinator is attracted to different types of flowers.
[Image: Honeyeater feeding on a grevillea flower]
- Butterflies and moths are attracted to colourful, sweet-smelling flowers
- Flies and beetles visit smelly or open flowers
- Birds like rainbow lorikeets, red wattle birds and honey eaters sip nectar from native flowers
- Pygmy Possums feed on Banksia blossoms at night, carrying pollen on their fur
[Image: Pygmy possums on a banksia flower]
Why do Pollinators Matter?
Without the help of pollinators, many plants could not survive. Without plants, pollinators would have no food. They depend on each other – and so do we!
How are plants and animals similar and different?
All living things have life cycles – they are born or sprout from a seed, grow, reproduce, and eventually die.
Life Cycle of a Plant
Plants are the base of most food chains. They provide food, shelter, and oxygen for animals and humans.
A plant starts its life as a seed and a plant needs sunlight, water, air, space, and soil to keep growing. When a seed lands in the right place that has all of these things, it can grow into a healthy plant. If the seed falls where it doesn’t get enough light or water, it might not grow at all.
Here’s how it happens:
- A seed germinates (sprouts) when it has water, light, and the right temperature
- The plant grows roots and a stem
- The plant grows leaves
- The plant becomes an adult with flowers
- Flowers make seeds inside fruit
- Seeds grow into new plants and the cycle begins again!
Life Cycle of a Bee
Bees, like many insects, go through four stages in their life cycle:
- Egg – A queen bee lays tiny eggs in a nest or hive
- Larva – The egg hatches into a larva (a small, worm-like baby bee) and worker bees feed the larva with pollen and nectar
- Pupa – The larva spins a cocoon and changes into an adult inside the cocoon
- Adult – The adult bee comes out of the cocoon. Adult bees collect nectar and pollen from flowers for food, helping pollinate flowers while feeding.
Life Cycle of a Flying Fox
Flying Foxes rely on their environment, especially having lots of fruits and nectar for food.
- Birth – The mother is pregnant for 5-6 months and gives birth to a pup while hanging upside down. The mother uses her body and wings as a net to catch the pup.
- Pup – Lives with the mother for several months, clinging onto the mother with their teeth and claws and feeding on milk from the mother
- Juvenile – At about 2 or 3 months old, young flying foxes start to practice flying
- Pre adult – At 6 months old, flying foxes fly with their mother and learn to find food
- Adult – At 1.5 to 2 years old, flying foxes start having their own babies (reproduce)
- Death – Flying foxes live for 15 to 30 years in the wild
[Image: Mother flying fox with baby on chest. Image credit: RBGSYD]
Activities
Label the features of a native bee
- Use the ‘Diagram of a Native Bee’ (below)
- Use the following words to label the bee: eye, antennae, thorax, abdomen, stinger, leg, pollen sacs, head
- What else do you know about bee pollination?
- Share answers with a friend.
Understand how plants grow and how pollination helps new plants begin their life cycle.
- Use the diagram of a ‘Plant life Cycle’.
- Use the following words to label the stages in the life cycle: pollination, seed dispersal, seedling, adult plant.
- Add extra labels to show the parts of the plant that help it survive such as leaves, roots, flowers, and stem.
Think about the connections:
Which animals or pollinators help at each stage? (e.g. bees pollinate flowers, birds or possums spread seeds).
What does the plant provide in return (nectar, fruit, oxygen, shelter)?
- Share your answers with a partner. Did you add the same plant parts and connections?
Discover the stages of the plant life cycle in the real world and explore how plants, animals, and the environment are connected.
Go outside with your class. Look carefully for the different stages of a plant’s life cycle. Search for:
A seed
A seedling starting to grow
An adult plant with leaves and flowers
A fruit holding seeds
As you explore, think about:
Which animals or pollinators might help this plant (e.g. bees with flowers, birds or possums with fruit)?
What might eat or use this plant in a food chain?
How is this plant connected to its environment (soil, water, sunlight)?
- Draw the different stages you find. Label the parts of the plant (roots, stem, leaves, flower, seed, fruit).
- Share your drawings with a partner. Did you find the same stages or different ones? What pollinators or animals might visit the plants you found?
Use natural materials to make models and compare the life cycles of pollinators to discover how their stages are alike or different.
- Choose a pollinator – Look at the life cycle diagrams of a butterfly and a bird. Decide which one you want to model.
- Collect materials – Go into the school grounds or a park and gather loose natural objects from the ground (e.g. leaves, sticks, bark, seeds, pebbles, grass).
Make the life cycle model – Arrange your objects to show each stage in a circle or line. You could also use clay to make some of the stages in the model:
Adult Butterfly → Egg → Caterpillar (larva) → Chrysalis (pupa) → Emerging Butterfly → Adult butterfly.
Adult Bird → Egg → Embryo → Hatchling → Chick → Adult bird.
- Label the stages – Use small sticks or paper slips to write the stage names and place them beside your model.
Compare and share –with a partner and explain:
What is similar between your pollinator’s life cycle and theirs?
What is different?
Why do you think these differences matter for survival in their habitats?
Images 1-5: Centennial Parklands
Image 6: Mother flying fox with baby on chest. Image credit: RBGSYD.
Image 7: Bee illustration. Image Credit: Sam Crosby, Greater Sydney Parklands Education and Community Programs.
Image 8: Plant life cycle illustration. Image credit: Sam Crosby.
Image 9: Rainbow lorikeet life cycle illustration. Image credit: Sam Crosby, Greater Sydney Parklands Education and Community Programs.