Sophie Moynihan
7B
November 10, 2010
7B
November 10, 2010
Pollination is the process where pollen from one plant is transferred to the stigma of another plant. When we think of flowers being pollinated, we think of bee's and not much else. Scientists have discovered that not only are bees pollinating, but so are lizards, cockroaches, and a newly found contributor, crickets. The island of Reunion is just off the coast of Africa. Scientists on this island use night vision goggles to observe a certain kind of flower called an orchid. They had been recording what happens to this flower during the night and were trying to see how this flower is pollinated. While watching this flower one night, they made an astounding discovery, a new species of cricket. Not only was the cricket new, but it was also pollinating the orchid, something no one has ever recorded a cricket doing. One of the scientist observing the cricket, Claire Micheneau, said “This was very unexpected. The answer to a question brings us further questions.” Now, a commonly asked question between scientist is if crickets have been pollinating plants for longer then we thought. The cricket will eat the nectar that grows in the orchid, collection the pollen while it eats. It then moves on to the next orchid and transfers the pollen. When looking into this study, scientist think that if plants grows in a different sounding then the one where they originated, it could adapt strange pollinators. We think that this type of orchid was originally grown in Madagascar.
I think this was a really cool example of adaption and mutualism. The orchid, which they think was originally found in Madagascar, has learned to survive, or adapted, in a different environment. Its a good example of mutualism because the plant provide nectar fir the cricket, and in return it gets pollinated. This article really caught my eye because not only have we found a new cricket, but its doing something we have never seen crickets do. The word reunion means "to meet" in french, which sums up the relationship between the cricket and the orchid. When I looked further into this I found the actual video of the cricket and the orchid and it was pretty cool http://vimeo.com/8769516
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20100203/Note2.asp
That was SUPER interesting!!!!!!! Yeah, you were right - I hear 'pollination', and I think of bees, butterflies, and nothing else. I never dreamed that LIZARDS or CRICKETS would be able to pollinate flowers. I was surprised, because I've seen and I like orchids, and they have bright colors. I've learned that flowers have evolved good smells and bright colors in order to attract bees and butterflies to pollinate them. If the crickets pollinate the orchids at night, the only use for the bright colors are if the crickets have night vision...I wonder if they do...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, good paraphrasing, and I like the way you connected this article to other slightly related topics on your own. I enjoyed reading it!