Theme: Pollinators, Show '4, "Pollinator Conservation" - EmeraldPlanet TV©
Full Program Title: "Pollinators: Planning for Propagation in the Natural World of Gardens, Farms, and Forests", EmeraldPlanet TV©
Guest: Show '4': Kerry L. Wixted, Education And Outreach Specialist, Wildlife & Heritage Service, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Theme: "Pollinator Conservation".
Overview:
The Maryland State Department of Natural Resources in the United States leads in securing a sustainable future for the environment, society, and economy by preserving, protecting, restoring, and enhancing the State’s natural resources. Its key objectives are: 1) Sustainable Populations of Living Resources and Aquatic Habitats; 2) Healthy Maryland Watershed Lands, Streams and Non-Tidal Rivers; 3) Natural Resources Stewardship Opportunities for Maryland’s Urban and Rural Citizens; 4) Conserved and Managed Statewide Network of Ecologically Valuable Private and Public Lands; 5) Diverse Outdoor Recreation Opportunities for Maryland Citizens and Visitors; and 6) Diverse Workforce and Efficient Operations.
The Wildlife and Heritage Service monitors wildlife populations, establishes hunting seasons, manages habitat on public Wildlife Management Areas, protects endangered species, and provides advice on wildlife issues. Marylanders are encountering wild species more than ever before.
According to the United State Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture virtually all of the world’s seed plants need to be pollinated. This is just as true for cone-bearing plants, such as pine trees, as for the more colorful and familiar flowering plants. Pollen, looking like insignificant yellow dust, bears a plant’s male sex cells and is a vital link in the reproductive cycle. Pollination is not just fascinating natural history. It is an essential ecological survival function.
Without pollinators, the human race and all of earth’s terrestrial ecosystems would not survive. Of the 1,400 crop plants grown around the world, i.e., those that produce all of our food and plant-based industrial products, almost 80% require pollination by animals. Visits from bees and other pollinators also result in larger, more flavorful fruits and higher crop yields. In the United States alone, pollination of agricultural crops is valued at 10 billion dollars annually. Globally, pollination services are likely worth more than 3 trillion dollars. USFS reports more than half of the world’s diet of fats and oils come from animal-pollinated plants (oil palm, canola, sunflowers, etc.). More than 150 food crops in the U.S. depend on pollinators, including almost all fruit and grain crops.
The USDA estimates crops dependent on pollination are worth more than $10 billion per year. Environmental Benefits of Pollination includes Clean Air (Carbon Cycling/Sequestration) Flowering plants produce breathable oxygen by utilizing the carbon dioxide produced by plants and animals as they respire. Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have been rapidly increasing in the last century, however, due to increased burning of fossil fuels and destruction of vital forests, the “earth’s lungs.”
Pollinators are key to reproduction of wild plants in our fragmented global landscape. Without them, existing populations of plants would decline, even if soil, air, nutrients, and other life-sustaining elements were available. Water and Soils as part of Environmental Benefits of Pollination include flowering plants help to purify water and prevent erosion through roots that holds the soil in place, and foliage that buffers the impact of rain as it falls to the earth. The water cycle depends on plants to return moisture to the atmosphere, and plants depend on pollinators to help them reproduce. Reference: Flowering Plants, Pollinators, and the Health of the Planet (Marinelli, 2005): Plant. 2005. Janet Marinelli, Editor in Chief. First American Edition. Dorling Kindersley Limited (DK Publishing, Inc.). New York. 512 Pages.
Plant Pollination Strategies occurs when birds, bees, bats, butterflies, moths, beetles, other animals, water, or the wind carries pollen from flower to flower or it is moved within flowers. The successful transfer of pollen in and between flowers of the same plant species leads to fertilization, successful seed development, and fruit production. Other factors such as drought, extreme temperature shifts, or diseases may prevent full fruit and seed production.
"Our Future Flies on the Wings of Pollinators" is a poster made available by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Botanical Gardens, and the NAPPC (North American Pollinator Protection Campaign). Artist: Paul Mirocha, Download PDF Version, 1.99 MB, [ Ссылка ].
