What do flowers do to pollinate insects?

Many children know that bees collect nectar from blooming flowers and then bring the nectar back to their nests to make honey for their own food.

During the process of nectar collection, bees are prone to pollen on their feet, and when they fly to another flower, they carry pollen to other flowers to complete the pollination work. In this way, the flowers are pollinated and will bear fruit after a while, while the bees will get the nectar, and both plants and insects can benefit from the process of collecting nectar. In fact, this win-win mechanism has evolved gradually over a long period of time, and it is called coevolution.

In order to complete co-evolution, so that insects like bees can help pollinate them, plants have "come up" with many ways. For example, plants in tropical rainforests that are smaller, less flowering, scattered, and have a shorter flowering period have evolved a fixed time and flowering pattern, so that insects with a fixed flight path and flight time can find these flowers more easily and complete the pollination work.

In order to attract different insects to pollinate, some plants will evolve into different forms of flowers to meet the preferences of those insects, such as flies and moths, butterflies, etc., like to choose radially symmetrical flowers, bees West Lake choose radially symmetrical and left-right symmetrical flowers, moths like to choose flat or falling flowers, butterflies like upright flowers, beetles West Lake choose flowers. In this way, different flowers can attract different insects to pollinate them, and the efficiency of reproduction is greatly increased.

Not only that, but because some insects are different in their sensitivity to color, the color of the flowers of some plants has also evolved over a long period of time, which makes it easier for insects to spot them.

The pollen and nectar produced by plant flowers are rich in nutrients, which not only compensate for the energy expenditure of pollinating insects during pollination, but also have an inducing effect at close range, attracting insects to visit. The different scents that flowers have evolved can also act as a food signal for insects and attract insects to collect nectar.

Some flowers have no nectar, but they need insects to help pollinate, so they will use various "tricks" to get insects to work on a voluntary basis. For example, the orchid, a member of the orchid family, has dark spots on its lip flaps called "honey guides", as if to tell pollinators, "There is nectar here, please pollinate me". Although the orchid is hollow, because of the deception of the "honey guide" spot, the bees do not distinguish between the real and the fake, and the nectar is not eaten, but becomes a free pollinator.

The color blooms colorful flowers to attract the attention of insects, and the purpose of pollination is achieved by insects touching pollen.

The unique fragrance of the scented flowers attracts insects to feed, and only a small part of them are fed when they come into contact with the pollen.

The unevenness of the petals causes some petite insects to be unable to leave the flowers for a while, and shuttle back and forth between them to complete the pollination process.

It has a special smell, fragrant, smelly (such as foul-smelling konjac), which mainly depends on what pollinating insects like to smell;

Multiple nectars. The place where the nectar is stored determines the species that attracts insects. It can be eaten as soon as it is shallow and stretches out its mouth, so it attracts bees that chew and suck their mouthparts; The deep hiding is called "flower distance", which requires the insect to have long mouthparts, such as siphons.

Formula moth butterfly. If the amount of nectar is large, the pollinator must be large, and this flower is a bird-borne flower for bird pollination.

The flowers are large, prominent, and brightly colored. During the day, many of them are bright red, yellow, purple, orange and other colors, and at night they are mostly white (moths are attracted.

There are also some flowers that have evolved an incomparably complex insect pollination system in the long-term co-evolution with insects, such as aristolochia.

If you are interested, you can search on the Internet to see.

In the process of plant evolution, how pollen spreads is a very important question: wind vectors consume a lot of pollen, pollination efficiency is low, the distance is short, and it is not easy to improve the diversity of offspring. Insects may have discovered that pollen is a good food by accident, so insects feed on pollen, but they inadvertently get pollen on their bodies and inadvertently spread pollen to plants.

This pollination relationship has since become more and more intimate and specific: insect pollination is highly efficient, and long-distance pollination can increase plant diversity; Slowly, plants evolved petals, nectar glands, making the location of the pollen more prominent. The flowers of some plants form a special structure, which can only be accessed by specific insects, reducing nectar thieves who cannot pollinate, and at the same time improving the specificity of Kunlao silverworm and reducing pollen waste.

However, it should also be pointed out that although wind pollination is not the mainstream in flowering plants, it has also created one of the five major families of plants, which is the family of grasses, with more than 11,000 species, so there is no absolute advantage or disadvantage between wind and insect vectors, as long as plants can be skillfully used.

There are many ways in which flowers can attract pollinators, and these methods may vary from plant species to plant. Here are some general ways to do it:

First of all, flowers often release a special fragrance that can attract many pollinating insects, such as bees, butterflies and dragonflies. These insects usually go to the flowers in search of nectar, pollen, or other nutrients and help pollinate the flowers in the process.

Secondly, the shape and color of some flowers can also attract pollinators. For example, many flowers have bright colors, such as red, yellow, and blue, which are very attractive to insects. In addition, many of the flowers are also in special shapes, such as bells, funnels, trumpets, etc., which make it easier for insects to enter the inside of the flowers to find food and pollen.

Third, some flowers release particularly dry scents in the evening or early morning that attract specific pollinators. These insects are usually nocturnal or early morning active, and they may also be attracted to the color, shape, and other special characteristics of the flowers.

Overall, different flowers use different methods to attract pollinators, but they all have the same goal: to attract as many pollinators as possible to help them produce more seeds or fruits. In nature, the relationship between flowers and pollinators is a reciprocal symbiosis, which not only helps flowers reproduce but also helps pollinators find food and habitat.

Rape flowers, radish flowers, etc., their flowering time is almost the same as the time of insect activity, because as soon as they bloom, the eggs of insects also hatch, and there are pumpkin flowers, camellias, etc., they are the same as bees and butterflies.

These flowers and some insects are an interdependent relationship, flowers need to rely on them to spread their own pollen, insects also rely on flowers to obtain the substances they need for survival, the two are inseparable, so the flowering time of these flowers is very same as the time of insect activity, and when these flowers bloom, insects can also be seen.