Pollination

Since plants have to mate and produce offspring while rooted to the spot, they have to be pollinated - by wind, water, or animals - most commonly insects. They use a surprising array of tricks to attract pollinators: striking colours, iridescent light effects, and enticing scents, to name but a few. Insects, on the other hand, do not seek to pollinate plants - they are looking for food; so plants make sure it’s worth their while. Insects are also remarkably sophisticated in their ability to find, recognise and find their way inside flowers. So pollination has evolved as a complex dance between plants and pollinators that is essential for life on earth to continue.

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Guests

• Beverley Glover No other episodes
  Director of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden
• Professor Jane Memmott No other episodes
  Professor of Ecology at the University of Bristol
• Professor Lars Chittka No other episodes
  Professor of Sensory and Behavioural Ecology at Queen Mary, University of London

Reading list

• The Forgotten Pollinators
  Stephen L Buchmann and Gary Paul Nabhan (Island Press, 1997) Google Books →
• The Mind of a Bee
  Lars Chittka (Princeton University Press, 2023) Google Books →
• Field Guide to the Bees of Britain and Ireland
  Steven Falks (British Wildlife Publishing, 2015)
• Hoverflies: Naturalists' Handbooks vol. 5
  Francis S. Gilbert (illustrated by Steven J. Falk) (Pelagic Publishing, 2015) Google Books →
• A Sting in the Tale: My Adventures with Bumblebees
  Dave Goulson (Vintage, 2014) Google Books →
• The evolution of diverse floral morphologies
  Edwige Moyroud and Beverley J. Glover (Current Biology vol 11, 2017)
• Birds and Flowers: An Intimate 50 Million Year Relationship
  Jeff Ollerton (Pelagic Publishing, 2024) Google Books →
• British Hoverflies
  Alan E. Stubbs and Steven J. Falks (British Entomological & Natural History Society, 2002) Google Books →
• Pollination: The Enduring Relationship Between Plant and Pollinator
  Timothy Walker (Princeton University Press, 2020) Google Books →

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Programme ID: m0028jtx

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0028jtx

Auto-category: 581.4 (Pollination)