Page 14 - Waterfall Issue 9_2022

Waterfall News

IT’S POLLEN TIME

By Emile Bolton, STM Landscaping Project Manager at Waterfall

Emile Bolton, STM Landscaping Project These pictures illustrate wind pollination
Manager at Waterfall

T hroughout the seasons, our of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere HOW DID POLLEN

EVOLVE?
Waterfall Community will
have been rapidly increasing in the
see visible differences in
last century due to increased burning
Pollen is an evolutionary development
trees, grasses and weeds
when they produce seeds. This of fossil fuels and destruction of vital found in more advanced plants, such
forests, the earth’s ‘lungs’. Pollinators
as Angiosperms and Gymnosperms,
pollen cycle is vital to the survival are key to the reproduction of plants that protects the gametes and allows
of humans, animals and plants. in our fractured global landscape. for fertilisation without water. Pollen-
Without them, existing populations producing plants are also able to
Bees pollinate a third of what we eat of plants would decline, even if disperse their gametes further and
and play a vital role in sustaining the soil, air, nutrients, and other life- in more diverse environments than
planet’s ecosystems. Over 84% of the sustaining elements are available. more primitive seedless plants.
crops grown for human consumption
need bees or other insects to pollinate Water and Soils THE DISPERSAL OF
them to improve the quality of food Flowering plants help to purify water POLLEN
and ensure next generation crops. and prevent erosion through roots Wind or pollinating animals can
Pollination is not just fascinating in that hold the soil in place, and foliage spread pollen and pollen morphology
its natural history, it is an essential that buffers the impact of rain as it shows which of these vectors a
ecological survival function. If falls to the earth. The water cycle plant species prefers. Smaller,
there are no pollinators, the human depends on plants to return moisture smoother pollen is usually wind-
race and all of earth’s terrestrial to the atmosphere, and plants depend dispersed, while larger, spinier
ecosystems would not survive. on pollinators to help them reproduce. varieties have evolved to attach to
pollinators such as insects, birds,
WHAT ARE THE WHAT IS THE FUNCTION dogs, mice, bats and even humans.
ENVIRONMENTAL OF POLLEN? THE BOTANY
BENEFITS OF BREAKDOWN ANNUAL POLLEN CYCLES
POLLINATION? Besides causing hayfever in IN GAUTENG
humans, the ultimate function of In Gauteng, we traditionally refer
Clean Air (carbon cycling) pollen is to deliver male gametes to August as the windy month. True
Flowering plants produce breathable from a plant’s stamen to an ovule to its reference, this wind plays a
oxygen by utilising the carbon for fertilisation of an egg, which critical role in spreading pollen,
dioxide produced by animals. Levels then develops into a seed. nature’s survival mechanism.

12 Waterfall Issue 9 2022