Plant Pollination Strategies

In an earlier post, I spoke about pollination syndromes. In this post I want to speak about pollination strategies. Pollination occurs through two means:  1) abiotic meaning without the involvement of organisms or 2) biotic meaning with the involvement of organisms. About 80 percent of all pollination is abiotic, while the remaining is primarily by wind with the assist of some water.

The US Forest Service has explained the difference between the various types of pollination transferrance as plant pollination strategies.

The Ghosts of Evolution

If you want to read a delightful book about the mysteries of evolution, try The Ghosts of Evolution — Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners, and Other Ecological anachronisms by Connie Barlow. It won’t keep you “rolling in the aisles” for the entire book, but it’s darn close.

Note:  If you’ve ever gotten a Devil’s Claw (Proboscidea parviflora) caught around your ankle, you’ll want to read this book, pg 150+.