Pollination

(warm music) - [Narrator] Flowers bring beautiful colors and sweet smells to us.

- [Boy] Look, guys, look.

- [Sarah] Very cool find.

- [Narrator] And without flowers, we wouldn't have many of our foods.

(children laughing) I bet you know how to grow a flower.

You plant a seed.

- [Woman] Good job.

- [Narrator] But how does that seed get made?

- [Woman] Plant more, more, more.

- [Narrator] Learn all about pollination with us, and when you bite into an apple, thank a bee.

- [Boy] Thank you, bees.

(bright music) - [Narrator] Pollination, on this episode of "Nature WY".

- [Child Narrator] "Nature Y" is brought to you in part by the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation.

- So scientists?

- [Children] Yes.

- Oh, I love seeing all of your eyes.

One of our big questions is how do plants help native bees?

And our other big question that we're gonna try and answer is, how do native bees help plants?

So how do they each help each other?

Is this plant able to get up and just walk around?

- No.

- No, that would be kinda silly, right?

In order to produce new seeds and fruits, what is this plant going to need?

Taylor, say it nice and loud.

- Bees.

- Bees!

Or other pollinators.

Because this plant is rooted in one spot it needs those pollinator friends in order to complete its life cycle.

- [Narrator] What is a plant's life cycle?

Seeds are the start.

What happens next?

- Did this one grow from a seed?

- Yes.

- Yes, so if we look at this, we have our seeds, which are gonna grow into our seedling, that are gonna grow into an adult plant, which has some beautiful flowers.

And eventually those are going to produce our seed pods.

(gentle music) - [Marin] Is it a cycle?

- This would be a cycle.

- [Narrator] Marin's got it.

Many plants begin as a seed, which grows into a seedling, then flowers when the plant is an adult.

And if the plant lives a lucky life, it gets the chance to make seeds and the cycle can start again.

In fact- - One family of plants can last- Like forever.

- [Narrator] Sabin's exactly right.

A plant lifecycle can go on and on.

We know plants grow from seeds.

Let's take a closer look at how those seeds get made through a really important process called pollination.

- Now, what would this plant need in order to produce a seed or a fruit?

- A bee.

- Pollinator.

- A pollinator, like a bee.

Now, if he goes between this flower and another one of the same type, just like this one, and carries pollen and leaves some behind, then he would be pollinating.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Fact: Pollination is moving pollen from the male part of one flower to the female part of another flower of the same species.

Many plants need help carrying their pollen to other plants.

Some, like grasses, use the wind.

I bet you know one of these plants well: Corn.

When the wind blows, the wind moves pollen from one corn plant to another so the corn plant can make a seed, and that's what we eat.

Every one of those corn kernels is a seed, and all those seeds needed pollen delivered by the wind to grow.

Other flowers and food plants have pollen that is too heavy or too sticky to be carried by the wind.

They need help from insects to move their pollen.

With their roots holding them in place, they can't deliver that heavy pollen themselves.

They need help.

That's when bees and other pollinators come to the rescue.

Bees have special creature features that help them gather and package pollen so that they can easily carry it to the next flower.

And when the flower gets pollen from another of the same kind, it can make seeds.

To say thanks, the flower offers her bee-friend a sip of sugary nectar.

Bees sip nectar to fuel their life.

It's quick energy that they can use for all that flying from flower to flower.

But just like you, sugar isn't enough for a bee.

They need protein, so they keep a little protein-rich pollen for themselves.

- So for native bees, pollen is the baby food that they're leaving so their young can grow and develop.

- [Narrator] Fact: Bees can carry a third of their body weight in pollen.

(gentle music) Bees need the flowers just as much as the flowers need the bees.

There are parts of pollination we can't see with just our eyes, but we can watch pollen move.

We can see the wind carry clouds of pollen away from a pine.

We can see beetles munching on flowers and getting covered in yellow pollen, or native bees visiting flowers to sip nectar.

And just like this hummingbird with its black beak covered in white pollen, bird and insect pollinators move from flower to flower.

If we sit still and watch, we can see the pollinators helping the native plants.

- For this pollination map, your goal is to find a patch of flowers that looks kind of interesting, and you're actually gonna just have a seat and settle in.

Are we ready?

- [Child Narrator] Yeah.

- Okay, go ahead and find a good spot point.

Point if you can see a white or a yellow flower that we know our bees love.

- [Child 1] This is a great spot for them.

- [Child 2] Yeah.

- [Sarah] What color are they?

What size, what shape?

Is it open?

Is it tube shaped?

What patterns do we see?

Is anyone visiting your flower?

Is it sipping nectar?

Is it collecting pollen?

- [Child 1] He needs something to eat.

He's hungry.

- [Child 2] I have a good one.

It was like zoom.

- That's kind of interesting.

I might make note of it.

And just to sketch it out on a page in your notebook - [Narrator] To make a pollinator map, make a quick sketch of all the flowers you can see.

Then draw the path that a flower visitor takes.

- [Sarah] I saw that there were some really large open flowers kind of bunched together.

Those were yellow, so on my pollination map I'm just gonna add a little bit of color.

It can be a little bit messy, right?

One thing I noticed is that our butterflies, they were kind of all over in how they flew.

And if they stopped, they were gonna drink some nectar from these flowers, and then they're kinda just gonna go off again.

- [Narrator] Draw another type of flower.

How about one with a different shape?

- [Sarah] Did anyone see a bee that went from one flower and then to another one of the same type?

That, my friends, is when pollination is happening.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] For a step-by-step guide on how to make your own pollination map, visit WyomingPBS.org/NatureWy.

- [Child Narrator] I'm done!

- [Sarah] Are we ready to eat, friends?

- Yes!

- Okay.

- [Narrator] The next time you eat, look at your food carefully.

What on your plate was made with the help of a bee?

- Apple sauce, and do we need a pollinator for the apples?

- Yes.

- Yeah, since that's a fruit with seeds, absolutely.

- [Narrator] We wouldn't have apples without seeds, and we wouldn't have seeds without pollinators.

What else has seeds?

- What else?

What else, Lincoln.

- [Lincoln] A cherry.

- [Woman] Yes, a cherry.

- [Child] Watermelon.

- [Woman] Watermelon, yes.

- Watermelon.

- Raspberries.

- Raspberries, delicious!

- [Narrator] Want to learn more about how native bees help fill your lunchbox?

Check out our "Building for Bees" episode of "Nature Y" at WyomingPBS.org/NatureWy.

- I'm super impressed with the detailed observations you made in creating your pollination maps.

- [Narrator] Find some flowers in bloom, settle in and make your own pollination map.

Can you find a zipping bee?

Come join Science Kids and us at Wyoming PBS outside to discover pollinators at work in your own piece of Wyoming.

(gentle music) Thanks for watching.

- [Child Narrator] "Nature Wy" is brought to you in part by the Rocky Mountain Power Foundation: The philanthropic arm of Rocky Mountain Power supporting the growth and vitality of our community.

- [Children] Thank you, Rocky Mountain Power Foundation!

- [Narrator] And by a generous grant and supportive community outreach aligned with the "Nature" documentary, "My Garden of a Thousand Bees."