Bee Facts: Bees and Cross-PollinationBee Facts: Approximately 80 percent of pollination by insects is carried out by bees! Terms to Learn: Cross-pollination or syngamy, is said to occur when pollen is delivered to a flower of a different plant. Entomophily is the term for insect pollination where arthropods (insects) such as honeybees, bumblebees, butterflies, moths, and flies are the distributors of the pollen. Honeybees moving from one plant to another carry pollen grains on their legs and bodies. When the grains reach the stigma of a plant's flower, it fertilizes the plant enabling it to produce seed and bear fruit. In some cases, in fruit clusters like blackberries, each fruit requires multiple visits from bees to successfully reach a fertilized state. Commercial pollination management operations truck bee hives to pollinate fruits and agricultural crops crucial to our food chain in locations all over the country. Crops pollinated by bees include: almonds, avocados, cucumbers, melons, blueberries, blackberries, apples, pears, cherries, peaches, squash, pumpkins, strawberries and many more! The bumblebee is raised to pollinate greenhouse tomatoes.
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