Insects & Pollinators

Pollinators by Numbers

Three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants and about 35 percent of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollinators to reproduce. More than 3,500 species of native bees help increase crop yields. Some scientists estimate that one out of every three bites of food we eat exists because of animal pollinators like bees, butterflies and moths, birds and bats, and beetles and other insects.

How Animal Pollination Works

Pollinators visit flowers in their search for food (nectar and pollen). During a flower visit, a pollinator may accidentally brush against the flower’s reproductive parts, unknowingly depositing pollen from a different flower. The plant then uses the pollen to produce a fruit or seed. Many plants cannot reproduce without pollen carried to them by foraging pollinators.

Pollinators Are in Trouble

You may have heard that bees are disappearing and bats are dying. These and other animal pollinators face many challenges in the modern world. Habitat loss, disease, parasites, and environmental contaminants have all contributed to the decline of many species of pollinators.

• Conservation Work for Monarch Butterflies

• Conservation Work for Honey Bees

• Backyard Conservation

• Pollinators Habitat in Pastures
   

• Plant Materials Program Insects and Pollinator Habit Resources

  • Monarch Conservation Effort

  • Publications Relating to Insects & Pollinators Habitat

• PLANTS Database:  NRCS Pollinator Documents

• Be a Friend to Pollinators      video

Contact your local NRCS office to find out how to attract pollinators to your farm, ranch or home.