Pollination
Botany · Ecology · Entomology
Say it: pol-uh-NAY-shun
Pollination is the delivery of pollen to the female reproductive parts of a seed plant, the step that makes fertilization and seed formation possible.
Also: pollinate
Definition
What is pollination?
Pollination is the movement of pollen grains, which produce the male gametes of seed plants, to the female reproductive structures. In flowering plants this means from an anther to a stigma; in conifers and other gymnosperms, from male cones to female cones. After a grain lands on a compatible stigma, it grows a pollen tube down through the style to the ovule and delivers sperm cells for fertilization. The ovule then becomes a seed and the ovary a fruit.
Self-pollination happens within one flower or plant and is reliable but produces little genetic variety. Cross-pollination moves pollen between different plants of the same species and increases variation, and many plants promote it, for example by releasing pollen and receiving it at different times or by rejecting their own pollen. Wind carries the light pollen of grasses, oaks and conifers, whose flowers are small and lack scent and nectar. Most flowering plants, however, rely on animals such as bees, flies, butterflies, moths, beetles, birds and bats, attracting them with color, scent and rewards of nectar or pollen.
Animal pollination is a classic example of mutualism, and many of the world's food crops depend on it.
Word parts
Where does the word “pollination” come from?
- pollen
- fine flour, dustLatin pollen
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Terms that go with it
- FertilizationFertilization is the fusion of a sperm and an egg, the male and female gametes, into a single diploid cell, the zygote, that can develop into a new organism.
- GameteA gamete is a haploid reproductive cell, such as a sperm or an egg, that fuses with a gamete of the opposite type at fertilization to form a zygote.
- MutualismMutualism is a relationship between two species in which both partners benefit, such as flowering plants and the insects that pollinate them.
- SymbiosisSymbiosis is a close, long-lasting relationship between two different species that may benefit both, benefit one, or benefit one at the other's expense.
- BiodiversityBiodiversity is the variety of life in a place or on Earth as a whole, from genetic differences within species to the range of species and ecosystems.
- EcosystemAn ecosystem is a community of living organisms together with the nonliving environment they interact with, linked by energy flow and nutrient cycling.
Sources
Checked against
Written for biofideX in plain words, after checking these references:
- OpenStax Biology 2e, 32.2 Pollination and Fertilization
- FAO: What is pollination management
- Tong et al. (2023), New calculations indicate that 90% of flowering plant species are animal-pollinated, National Science Review
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