Pollinator Biology and Diversity
True or false: All bees sting
False. Only females have stingers. Males cannot sting. Some females may be too small to sting humans. Stingless bees have no sting, but have other defense mechanisms like biting or hair pulling.
Where are solitary bees in the winter?
a. They all die
b. They migrate south
c. In the walls of our houses
d. Inside their nests
Inside their nests. Their nests are in the ground or in hollow plant stems or other cavities.
What do pollinators collect and transport that helps plants produce seeds and fruits?
Pollen. When pollinators forage from flowers, pollen sticks to their bodies and moves with the pollinators. Pollinators move pollen to flowers that need that pollen to produce seeds and fruits.
What percentage of pollinators are invertebrates?
a. Over 99%
b. 20%
c. 75%
d. 8%
Over 99% of pollinators are invertebrates, which are animals that lack a backbone, such as insects.
How can you provide more food for pollinators?
Plant flowers. Pollinators get food from pollen and nectar, which are provided by flowering plants. Plant a wide diversity of native plants blooming from early spring through late fall.
How many eyes do bees have?
a. 2
b. 5
c. 200
5. Two compound eyes and three simple eyes. Compound eyes allow bees to see in multiple directions. Simple eyes, also called ocelli, detect light including polarized light which helps bees navigate.
Many honey bees are managed in human-made hives. Where do feral honey bees prefer to nest?
a. Underground, in a deep hole they excavate
b. In a ready-made, abandoned rodent hole
c. In a hollow tree trunk or in the cavity of a building
d. In an open space in a clump of grass
e. All of the above
In a hollow tree trunk or in the cavity of a building. Feral western honey bees often nest in hollow tree cavities, the walls of buildings, or in extra stored beekeeping equipment.
What is the sweet reward that plants produce to attract pollinators to come to flowers?
Nectar. Most flowers need pollinators to reproduce. By producing nectar in parts of the plant that force pollinators to come in contact with pollen, flowers are able to use pollinators to transfer their pollen to flowers that need that pollen to produce seeds and fruits.
On average, pollinators are responsible for what proportion of food that you eat?
a. 3 out of 4 bites, or 75%
b. 1 out of 3 bites, or 33%
c. 1 out of 10 bites, or 10%
1 out of 3 bites, or 33%. Pollinators increase the output of 87 of the world's leading crops, making up roughly 35% of our diet.
True or false? Climate change directly impacts pollinators.
True. Climate change negatively impacts pollinators through changes to temperatures and seasonal timing, and increased frequency and severity of extreme events like droughts, wildfires, and floods.
On average, how many bees live in a honey bee colony during the peak of summer?
a. 600
b. 6,000
c. 60,000
d. 160,000
60,000. While the number of honey bees in a colony depends on the season and on how they are managed, they can grow to about 60,000 bees in midsummer.
What is an instar?
a. A developmental stage of an insect
b. A marking on an insect exoskeleton
c. Another name for antennae
d. A type of pollinator
A developmental stage of an insect. All insects and other arthropods go through instars, which are developmental stages that occur between each molt until they reach maturity.
What is the state bee of Minnesota?
a. The honey bee
b. The orchard mason bee
c. The rusty patched bumble bee
d. The violet carpenter bee
The rusty patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis
What insect pollinates cacao, the plant used to make chocolate?
a. Bees
b. Flies
c. Beetles
d. Moths
Flies. Flies can be important pollinators for many different crops.
Leaving ________________ in your yards can help pollinator populations grow.
a. Bare ground
b. Plant stems or logs
c. Flowers
d. Leaves
e. All of the above
All of the above. Flowers provide food for pollinators while bare ground, stems, and woody material provide shelter. Both food and shelter are important resources to support pollinators.
On what body part do leaf cutter bees carry the most pollen?
a. bellies
b. legs
c. armpits
d. forehead
Bellies. Leaf cutter bees have hair on the underside of their abdomen to carry pollen.
Unlike humans, bees can see ultraviolet light. Which color can we see but bees are unable to see?
a. Blue
b. Green
c. Yellow
d. Red
Red. Red flowers are often pollinated by birds.
Which of these bee species is listed as an endangered species by the US Fish and Wildlife Service?
a. Honey bee, Apis mellifera
b. Alfalfa leaf cutter bee, Megachile rotundata
c. Rusty patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis
d. Green metallic sweat bee, Agapostemon virescens
Rusty patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis. The rusty patched bumble bee was listed as an endangered species in 2017.
Which crop in the US uses the most honey bee colonies for pollination?
a. Almonds
b. Corn
c. Strawberries
d. Apples
Almonds. Almost 2 million honey bee colonies are brought to California every year for almond pollination. Almond trees are completely dependent on bees to make almonds.
Which of the following plants can support monarch butterflies by giving them a place to lay eggs?
a. Milkweed
b. Coneflower
c. Basswood trees
d. Goldenrod
e. All of the above
Milkweed. Milkweed is the “host plant” for the monarch butterfly, meaning that it is crucial for their life cycle. Monarch larvae cannot eat other plants and survivey.
How many species of butterflies and moths do we have in Minnesota?
a. 15
b. 150
c. 500
d. 1500
1,500. Currently, there are 1,539 species of butterflies and moths documented in Minnesota.
Honey bees communicate in many different ways. Which one of these is NOT a means of communication for honey bees?
a. Pheromones
b. Dancing
c. Vibrations
d. Taste
e. Electrical pulses
Electrical pulses. Honey bees coordinate complicated social interactions with many different ways of communicating, including pheromones, a dance language, vibrations, and taste.
True or false? Mammals can be pollinators.
True. Fruit bats are important pollinators in tropical and desert regions.
Most North American bats eat only insects, while others eat a wide variety of foods including fruits, vegetables, flowers, nectar, pollen, leaves, and bark.
What type of bee pollinates most greenhouse tomatoes?
a. honey bees
b. sweat bees
c. bumble bees
d. mason bees
Bumblebees. When bumble bees are not available, tomatoes are pollinated by hand with an electric toothbrush that vibrates like a bee.
True or false: Honey bees are endangered.
False. Honey bees are not native to the United States, and are not endangered. They are prone to health problems caused by parasites and pathogens, but beekeepers can raise more of them.
What is the difference between wasps and bees?
a. Nothing, they are the same.
b. Wasps are usually bigger than bees.
c. They have different protein sources.
d. Wasps usually live longer.
They have different protein sources. Bees get protein from pollen, while most wasps get protein from eating other insects and spiders. Wasps and bees both have life spans varying from about a month to a year. Wasps come in many shapes and sizes, including vast numbers of tiny parasitic wasps.
How do bumble bee queens survive the winter?
a. Migrate to a warmer climate
b. Gather together with other bees to stay warm
c. Antifreeze in their blood
d. All of the above
Antifreeze in their blood. Overwintering bumble bee queens have a chemical called glycol in their blood that keeps their bodies from freezing.
What country do many monarchs migrate to in fall?
a. Canada
b. Mexico
c. They stay in the US
Mexico. Monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains travel up to 3,000 miles to overwintering grounds in Central Mexico. There is a small population in the western U.S. that migrates to areas in the Rocky Mountains in fall.
Some plants rely on bees to grab and shake their anthers to get the pollen out, a process called buzz pollination. Which of these bees do NOT buzz pollinate?
a. Sweat bees
b. Honey bees
c. Carpenter bees
d. All of the above
Honey Bees. Although they are physically able to, honey bees do not buzz pollinate.
True or false: If I plant a pollinator garden, I will be more likely to get stung.
False. Bees on flowers are too busy collecting food to notice people most of time. Most stem and ground nesting bees are not aggressive, even at their nests.
How many species of bees are documented to occur in Minnesota?
a. 5
b. 50
c. 500
d. 5000
Currently, 508 species of bees have been documented in Minnesota, including both native and non-native species, and this number is still growing.
What is the primary role of male bees?
Mating. Males do not collect pollen to feed the young. They can help to keep brood warm within the hive but mating is their main contribution.
Many insects act as pollinators. Which of these are NOT pollinators?
a. Wasps
b. Flies
c. Beetles
d. Dragonflies
Dragonflies do not visit flowers for nectar or pollen. They eat other insects. Beetles, wasps, and flies all visit flowers to forage for nectar and pollen. Some plants depend on beetles, flies, or wasps for pollination.
What crops rely on bees to buzz pollinate (shake pollen from their anthers) for fruit production?
a. Cranberries
b. Tomatoes
c. Blueberries
d. Kiwi
e. All of the above
All of the above. These crops require bees that are able to buzz pollinate.
True or false? You need a science degree to collect important pollinator data.
False. Anyone can participate in science projects like the Bumble Bee Atlas or the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project that provide crucial information to inform pollinator conservation.
How many species of bees are documented to occur across the world?
a. 2000
b. 20,000
c. 200,000
d. 2 million
Approximately 20,000 species bees have been documented across the world. This number continues to grow as people learn more about bees.
True or false: Male bumble bees are more visible later in the season.
True. Males are mostly produced at the end of the summer. Earlier in the summer, bumble bees mostly produce workers (females) to help the colony grow. Later in the summer, colonies produce males and queens. Males are often kicked out of their home nests and spend nights outside.
Do monarch caterpillars make a cocoon or a chrysalis?
A chrysalis. All butterflies form a chrysalis, which is a hardened case protecting the pupa. Unlike moths and many other insects, butterflies do not spin a cocoon, a case made of silk.
Which of these pollinators are managed by people and transported across North America for pollinating crops?
a. Common eastern bumble bee
b. Orchard mason bee
c. Hunt’s bumble bee
d. All of the above
e. None of the above
All of the above. In addition to the western honey bee, bumble bees, honey bees, mason bees, and others are managed for crop pollination.
True or false? Teaching others about pollinators is a great start to support bee conservation.
True. Talk to your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers about how they can help pollinators.