Pollination

Pollination on a small scale.

While the act of pollination itself is a simple concept, the history and evolution is quite interesting and often complex. The most commonly known pollinator is the honeybee, estimated to contribute a large percentage of crop pollination, with up to 65% dependency for some places. Angiosperms dominate terrestrial biota with 300,000 to 400,000 species. Such a vast diversification among flowering plants has co-evolved with the vast numbers of pollinators, from bats and birds, to a variety of insects with widespread differences. Whereas not all angiosperms require pollinator interaction, on the opposite side of the spectrum there is highly specialized pollination; however, the current consensus is that generalized pollination is dominate.

The flowers in this photo were observed being pollinated by bees and a number of different beetles.