It’s Pollinator Week! This week, we want to highlight a group of animals that perform a very valuable ecosystem service that people rely on, even if they don’t know it. Ecosystem services are things provided by the environment, typically without relying on human input. One ecosystem service is pollination. This is when animals, most often insects like bees and butterflies, carry pollen from one flower to another to fertilize it and allow it to create viable seeds. This process is also how we get many fruits. So pollinators are very important to people, because grocery stores would be pretty bare without them and the plants they interact with!

The most recognizable pollinators around the world are bees, and likely the most recognizable bee is the honeybee. But honeybees actually aren’t native to North America, while dozens of other species of bees are! We have native bumblebees, sweat bees, leaf-cutter bees, and long-horn bees, among others, and there are many species within each of those groups. 

After bees, the next group most people might think of are butterflies. Almost all butterflies around the world feed on nectar, and move pollen around between flowers as they go. There are many species of butterflies too, including an endangered species that can be found here in Yamhill County – the Fender’s blue butterfly. This is a small butterfly, with around a 1-inch wingspan. As caterpillars, they feed on the endangered Kincaid’s lupine and nothing else. As adults, they can collect nectar from other flowers, but they still need that lupine for their complete life cycle. We have many other butterfly species around Yamhill County as well.

Finally, there are some other animals that pollinate plants that we might not think of. In many tropical areas, bats can be pollinators. Hummingbirds also feed on nectar and sometimes pollinate flowers in the process. And many other insects aside from bees and butterflies are pollinators, too! Even insects like wasps, flies, and beetles can be pollinators as they go about their lives encountering flowers and moving pollen around.

All of these animals and more are very valuable in their ecosystems. They help maintain diversity by ensuring many species of plants can survive and reproduce, they help those plants produce fruits we enjoy, and many of them are aesthetically pleasing all on their own as well. This Pollinator Week, get familiar with the pollinators in your own backyard!