Pollination and Chronobiology in Flora – How it works
Pollination, see the pollen on the bee as flora and fauna work together to make our environment.
“Many of these plants—including the figs and cassava along
with worldwide food staples like barley, wheat, and rice—are
food crops with their own seasons and their own internal
chronobiology,” Galacti says.
“They have their own internal biological rhythm, their
responses to light and changes in temperature and seasons,” I
add, and our farm expert from the last chapter understands this.
(chapter 5.4-5)
“Let’s speed up the annual growing cycle to see how this
works. It’s called the circadian rhythm, meaning it lasts about
twenty-four hours, or about the length of a day,” suggests Galacti.
Internal timing in organisms is necessary for the survival of a
species and is adapted to its natural habitat. It’s even adaptable,
as the Southern and Northern hemisphere plants illustrate in
our demonstration garden.
You’ve noticed that the leaves open up during the day and
close toward sundown. This daily exposure to light is the time
for stem growth, and when biochemical processes like photosynthesis
are in sunny action. This is also when gas exchange,
carbon dioxide to oxygen, and water transpiration take place.
The next is a “circamonthly” rhythm, which isn’t very obvious in
plants. However, experience has shown us that planting according
to the full moon promotes growth. Then there’s the “circannual”
rhythm, with which our visitors are all familiar.
This annual seasonal rhythm holds true for the dormancy of
certain seeds, regulating germination, flowering, emission of a
fragrance to draw insects for pollination, and abscission (the shedding
of leaves, flowers, or fruit). I have a hazelnut tree, and each year
I am amazed to see how the cup of the hazelnut releases its
nut on maturity.
Some bamboo species have lengthier cycles and flower
only once every seven, sixty-five, or 120 years. The longest
known cycle is 130 years for phyllostachys bambusoides,
also called madake. This bamboo is common in China and
Japan, but also worldwide. Its chronobiology is such that no
matter where it grows, whether north, south, east, or west, or in
a tropical or cold zone, all the plants flower at the exact same
time. This reveals just how far the “internal alarm” goes.
Whether this bamboo grows N, S,E, or W, its cycle is all the plants flower at the exact same…
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Pollination
We stand underneath the Middle Eastern/Mediterranean fig
trees. A swarm of large wasps deters us from inspecting the
trees, but Galacti provides protective beekeeping gear so that
we can observe the wasps closely and safely. Guarded from
stings, we witness the wasps land like a squadron of mini
fighter planes on the figs and pierce them. They crawl inside,
lay their eggs, and sweeten the “delivery” by depositing nectar
carried on their bodies or in a special pouch.
The F-15 fighter wasps that have not yet entered a fig
buzz around the fig trees. One fig cracks open at Galacti’s
prodding and we can see its inner flower hidden under the
skin, never having seen daylight until now. “This is why the
figs depend on the wasps for pollination,” Galacti explains.
“Why is the fig designed that way?” a traveler wonders. “It
seems counterintuitive.”
“Not to the wasps,” Galacti says.
“But every flower that’s pollinated usually needs daylight,
right?” someone else questions. “I know there are some nocturnal
food or flowering plants, but they’re rare, aren’t they? Unless
you live in Alaska, where it’s twilight all day in the winter.”
Targeting the fig, a female wasp (the squad is exclusively
female) drops eggs inside the ovules and pollen inside the
stigma, which are parts of the fig’s flower florets.
“See? They have their routine down,” Galacti says.
If the wasps neglect to provide pollen to one or two figs
that they’ve “impregnated” with their eggs, those figs will
drop to the ground within minutes.
“Uh-oh,” Galacti says. “The wasps didn’t reciprocate.
They didn’t fulfill their part of the contract, so the tree
is demanding a ‘nonpayment penalty,’ to put it in human
terms.”
“You mean because the wasps wanted the fig to be a host
for their eggs, but then decided, (if decided is the right word)
not to pollinate the figs?” asks the visitor who first wondered
about the nature of figs.
“That’s right,” I say. “Cornell University has observed
this give and take, and now you are seeing this relationship
between figs and wasps for the first time. There is a season
for the wasps to lay their eggs, and there is also a season for
the figs to grow.”
The farm expert remembers something. “Actually, there
are two seasons for the figs: one in May and June and the
other in December and January, although in some climates
figs are grown throughout the year.”
“And the fig wasp mating season follows the same chronology
(or chronobiology), so the timing of both the fauna
and flora parties is just right,” I reply. “Fig wasp and fig tree
life cycles are intricately tied together.”
“Where do the male wasps fit in this cycle? I didn’t see
any,” our first questioner wants to know.
Galacti nods at the inside view of the normally closed fig.
The female wasp has died during our conversation (just hours
after laying her eggs), but the fig rapidly absorbs the body.
“It’s definitely a different process from your human childbearing,
but not so different from other species,” Galacti says.
“That wasp provides nutrients for the fig in addition to the
pollination.”
The eggs hatch before our eyes as we contemplate the
wasps. Wingless males are born, mate quickly with the
females, and then die just as quickly inside the fig after
a few hours. The fig is their short-lived home from which
they never emerge. On the other hand, the females join the
F-15 squadron. It’s a short life cycle, and someone remarks
that perhaps some of the females feel they’ve given enough
without helping the figs thrive.
“The fig trees’ instinct is to thrive,” Galacti says. “After all,
they are assisting the wasps with reproduction. This is their
season; this is their time. In addition, you miss another part of
the cycle without the ripening figs.”
We watch as the figs ripen in accelerated time. Animals
and birds arrive at the fig tree, eating the figs and discarding
the seeds. These “seeds” are actually tiny fruits that comprise
the whole fig. By eating the figs, the animals and birds guarantee
the existence of future fig trees. This is cross-pollination
at its most elegant, and the precision of the arrangement is
not lost on anyone.
Likewise, the complexities of the chain of events merit contemplation.
The wasps sacrifice themselves and die in order to ensure their own
reproduction and the figs’ existence. At the same time, the females
have a safe place for their eggs but the figs punish the wasps if
they don’t assist with the flower’s fertilization.
As Galacti says, this is a covenant conducted by beings without our
intelligence—the tree certainly does not have a mind, and the wasp
has a limited brain. Next time you eat a fig, realize that it is not a
fruit, but a flower that never sees daylight! As such, it needs to be
pollinated in this strange way.
Likewise, our wheat crop has its own pollination mechanism:
the wind. Inside the “spike” or the ear of the wheat plant,
humble, inconspicuous flowers wait for the winter, spring, or
autumn wind to blow pollen grains from neighboring plants.
These flowers don’t need elaborate color or the ritual mating/
pollination sequence of the fig trees because the wind provides
it. Wheat is not the only plant with this simple mechanism;
the crop in the rice paddies also benefits from wind pollination.
And yet there is separateness—an order to things.
The figs cannot be cross-fertilized with the wheat, and the lichens
have found their own way of reproduction. At the same time,
neither plant could reproduce through, say, a cinchona tree.
Even wheat and barley don’t cross-pollinate, nor do they use
the rice in their life cycles.
There are many fascinating relationships between plants, but pollination isn’t among them, no…
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.
As the wind gently blows through the wheat, we notice
the simplicity of the pollination process, specifically the way
grains of pollen are blown from wheat flower to wheat flower.
It seems to be chancy: why wait to be pollinated by wind?
What if there is no wind? There are windless zones near the
equator, but wheat does not grow in those areas.
We contemplate the unprocessed, raw wheat and grain as
well as the simple rice. “This is the spring harvest,” a woman
remarks. “I don’t know how I know. I can just feel it.”
The Explanation Blog Bonus
You need to listen to filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg who shows us the intricate world of pollen and pollinators. Here are some gorgeous high-speed images from his film “Wings of Life,” inspired by some of nature’s primary pollinators: honeybees, bats and humming birds.
Play a round of Take Inventory – The Interconnectivity Game based on … Both viewing the videos and using the tags at the end of this blog will give you dozens of ideas for The Game … it’s up to you to adapt it to the age level you’re working with.
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