MetaFilter posts tagged with pollination

Stop and smell the roses. While you still can.

allkindsoftime — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:33:55 -0800

Flowers are losing their smell. The discovery could be one of several factors in the "colony collapse disorder" that is wiping out honey bees around the world. Even a brief glance at the titles of the news articles on Wiki reads a bit frighteningly, as do the previous mentions here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Bless you, Georgia O'Keefe

Brandon Blatcher — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 09:35:47 -0800

When you consume coconut meat, coconut milk or popcorn you are eating endosperm. The dark, unsettling world of plant sexuality.

Bees

homunculus — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 22:04:19 -0800

The Vanishing. "Bees are in grave danger. So is our food supply. Why something so small matters so much."

Environmentalism gets personal

orthogonality — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 14:20:42 -0800

The little bug eats the bigger bug, and "[i]t's bad news for beekeepers, farmers and anybody who likes to eat." An invading parasite imperils the American honeybee -- and your fruit basket. In only six months "40 percent to 60 percent of the bees nationwide have perished". And "that, in turn, hampers production of about one third of the human diet, including almonds, apples, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, sunflowers, melons and cranberries."

Markb — Fri, 11 May 2001 02:49:48 -0800

Pollination Pets for the Garden. The UK bee population has almost halved in the last 10 years due mainly to the spread of a mite called Varroa from Asia. The loss of such a large proportion of the bee population has implications for agriculture, horticulture and nature, bees pollinate the majority of plants with no intervention from man, there isn't a more reliable fertilisation method. However an Oxford company has come up with a simple kit to attract Mason bees to nest in your garden requiring no effort and no protective clothing, they're pretty docile too, so it's unlikely you'll get stung. BTW, the US is affected too.