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Jessica Schwartz
Little Lizard Discovered As New African Pollinator
Flowers are all about marketing. From colors, scent, and physical structure (like the exact weight a petal will hold), plants are meticulously designed to attract just the right pollinator for the job. In most cases, that pollinator will be a bird, a bee, an insect, or sometimes even a mammal. But in a first for continental Africa, a “Hidden Flower” plant, located high up in the Maloti-Drakensberg World Heritage Site in South Africa, was recently discovered being pollinated by a reptile: the shy Drakensberg Crag Lizard. Although flower visitation by lizards is not unknown, it had been thought to occur almost exclusively on oceanic islands. Project leader Ruth Cozien, from the Pollination Ecology Research Laboratory and Centre for Functional Biodiversity at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, says one should keep in mind that mountains are like “sky islands” and might therefore have similarities with oceanic islands in terms of their ecology. Hidden Flower, true to its name, is a plant species with green flowers hidden at ground level, underneath the leaves of the plant. The flowers are also strongly scented, and nectar-filled, but academics wondered who the pollinator was— a bee, a bird, perhaps a mouse, or non-flying mammal? Initially, the group of researchers thought it was being pollinated by a non-flying mammal. “Everything about the plant made it look like it should be mammal-pollinated,” said Dr. Sandy-Lynn Steenhuisen, senior lecturer in the Department of Plant Sciences and affiliate of the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) at the Qwaqwa Campus of ...
Lawns To Legumes Program Will Pay MN Residents For Pollinator Plantings
Though it was rainy and cold last Thursday in Roseville, MN, inside the Roseville Skate Center, attendees of the “Lawns to Legumes Workshop” were already thinking and planning for Spring. Specifically, they were learning about a new program whereby Minnesota landowners can actually receive up to $350 to help convert their grass lawns into pollinator friendly habitats. Minnesota landscapers take note: this could be a great program to promote among your clients! Earlier this year, Minnesota passed legislation setting aside approximately $900,000 to assist homeowners in the effort to install wildflowers, clover, and other native plantings on their properties. The Lawns to Legumes program aims to protect the Minnesota state bee, the rusty patched bumblebee (which has declined by 87% in the last 20 years and was the first bee in the continental U.S. to be labeled an Endangered Species), and other at-risk pollinators by helping to counteract issues like habitat loss and pesticide use. Will more states follow suit? Perhaps. On Tuesday, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced ten grants totaling more than $1.5 million to projects geared toward conserving monarch butterflies, rusty patched bumblebees, and other insect pollinators in nine states across the U.S., including Arizona, California, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The grants will generate more than $2.8 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of more than $4.4 million. “These projects will restore and improve habitat for monarch butterflies and other at-risk native pollinators, which are vital to the ...
