Pollination
Lexikon
Pollination means: pollen has to reach the stigma of a flower so that seeds and fruit can form.
Pollination means: pollen has to reach the stigma of a flower so that seeds and fruit can form. What matters is that it is pollen of the same species, since foreign pollen cannot fertilize a flower. Many plants therefore attract insects with conspicuous flowers, scent, and nectar, and, so to speak, pay them for transporting the pollen.
Honey bees are well suited to this task because they show flower constancy. During a single foraging trip, a forager preferentially visits flowers of the same plant species, so the pollen she is carrying matches. This fidelity is especially pronounced in spring. Later in the year, as the supply becomes scarcer, bees switch plant species more often. Added to this is sheer numbers: a colony overwinters as a unit and, in spring, is immediately ready with many thousands of foragers that fly to nectar sources within a radius of up to about five kilometers.
A common misconception is that the honey bee handles pollination single-handedly. The Bavarian State Institute in Veitshöchheim states that, in our latitudes, around 80 percent of brightly flowering plants are pollinated by honey bees, but in the same breath points out that bumblebees, wild bees, butterflies, hoverflies, other insects, and the wind also contribute a substantial share. Many wild bees are even specialized on just a few or single plant species and are hardly replaceable for those.
For everyday work this means above all: have strong, healthy colonies ready in good time for the spring flow, since pollination performance depends on the number of flight-capable bees. A clean water source at the apiary and a location with a continuous supply of flowers help the colony and its surroundings alike.