a flower for testing (or make a model of a flower out of tissue paper use a food-safe powder such as flour for the pollen)
What to do!
There are many plants around us that need animals to pollinate them. Imagine that you are one of those animals. Your task is to design a device that can move pollen from one flower to another.
Choose a flower that needs to be pollinated. It could be a real flower or a realistic model of a flower. If it is a real flower, it will need to have some pollen. This is the powdery stuff found in the centre. If it is a model of a flower, use a material like flour to stand in for real pollen.
Think about all the things that you will need to include in your device and plan out your design on a piece of paper.
Build your design, if you want to,
Test your prototype on your chosen flower. Is there any way that you can improve your design?
Share your design and your results with others!
Flowering plants and pollinators have evolved together over time. Flowers attract pollinators with their colours, smells and nectar. Pollinators feed on this nectar and in doing so, pick up pollen on their bodies. These pollinators will often visit multiple flowers, transferring the pollen from flower to flower as they do so. It’s a win-win for both the plants and the pollinators!
With the ever growing human population, we need to make sure that we can grow enough food to feed everyone. We can grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables, but many of these plants need pollination before they can produce the part we eat. Getting enough pollinators to pollinate all of our plants can be challenging in some places. Some populations of pollinators are declining due to the overuse of agricultural chemicals as well as climate change. We might therefore need to start thinking about different ways that we can crop plants ourselves if these populations keep declining.
Can your pollinating device be used on different types of flowers?
Can you design a new type of flower that would work with your pollinating device?
What’s happening?
Flowering plants and pollinators have evolved together over time. Flowers attract pollinators with their colours, smells and nectar. Pollinators feed on this nectar and in doing so, pick up pollen on their bodies. These pollinators will often visit multiple flowers, transferring the pollen from flower to flower as they do so. It’s a win-win for both the plants and the pollinators!
Why does it matter?
With the ever growing human population, we need to make sure that we can grow enough food to feed everyone. We can grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables, but many of these plants need pollination before they can produce the part we eat. Getting enough pollinators to pollinate all of our plants can be challenging in some places. Some populations of pollinators are declining due to the overuse of agricultural chemicals as well as climate change. We might therefore need to start thinking about different ways that we can crop plants ourselves if these populations keep declining.
Investigate further!
Can your pollinating device be used on different types of flowers?
Can you design a new type of flower that would work with your pollinating device?
