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Cells and Systems 6-8 / Week 11 / Nature Day
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Week 11 · Making More

Nature Day

Nature Day: Pollinator and seed count
// Structures and behaviors that help life continue
⏱ about 20 min

Nature Day: Pollinator and Seed Count

Saturday morning the crew sits on a low wall at the edge of a park, notebooks open.

"Rules," Raven says. "We count visitors to that flower patch for ten minutes. Nobody moves closer."

Rocket starts the timer. A bee lands on a purple flower, then another. "Two bees, one minute. This is going to be a lot."

Nova hovers high above the patch. "What do you notice about which flowers they pick?" she asks.

"Purple and yellow," Rocket says. "They skip the red ones." Raven smiles. "Who told you bees cannot see red?"

"The table did," Rocket says. "And now the bees agree."

  1. A flower has sepals, petals, stamens with anthers that make pollen, and a stigma that receives it.
  2. Bright petals, scent and nectar attract pollinators. Bees, butterflies, moths, bats, birds and wind each suit different flowers.
  3. Seeds travel by wind, water and animals, using wings, floating fruit, hooks and tasty fruit.
  4. Animals build nests, stay in groups, sing and display to raise the chance of young growing up.
  5. None of these guarantees success. Each raises the probability of reproduction.
◇ FAMILY POLLINATOR AND SEED COUNT
Find a patch of flowers in a park, garden or planter. Sit or stand at least three big steps away.
For ten minutes, tally every visitor: bee, butterfly, other insect, bird. Note which flower colors they land on.
Then look for traveling seeds: fluffy tufts, winged seeds, berries, burrs stuck to a sock.
Talk it over. Which pollinator came most? Which flower colors did it choose? Did any seed structure surprise you?
For a grown-up
The count is done from a distance. Insects and nests are never touched, and nothing is picked, sniffed or tasted.
Anyone with an insect allergy should watch from farther away, or count from a window.
The pollinator facts come from the free textbook Biology 2e. Hands are washed when you get home.
Safety first
Watch bees and other insects from where you stand. Never try to touch one.
Never touch a nest, an egg or a chick, and never touch an unknown plant or berry.
Wash your hands when you get home.
THINK IT THROUGH
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Your family counted ten bees on blue and yellow flowers and none on red ones. What does that match?
You find a fluffy seed head on a plant. How do its seeds most likely travel?
Nature Day checkTrue or false?
Counting pollinators from a distance is a safe way to gather data.?
A burr stuck to a sock is a seed traveling by animal.?
Every flower in a patch gets exactly the same number of visitors.?
WHY THIS EXERCISEYour own count is evidence, the same kind scientists use.
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