How bees help plants have sex - Fernanda S. Valdovinos
173,012 Views
5,476 Questions Answered
TEDEd Animation
Let’s Begin…
Plants have a hard time finding mates -- their inability to get up and move around tends to inhibit them. Luckily for plants, bees and other pollinator species (including butterflies, moths and birds) help matchmake these lonely plants in exchange for food. Fernanda S. Valdovinos explains how these intricate pollination networks work and how it can all change from one season to the next.
Additional Resources for you to Explore
Fernanda belongs to the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Arizona (http://eeb.arizona.edu/) and to the "Pacific Ecoinformatics and Computational Ecology Lab" (PEaCE Lab)
Pollination is vital to life on Earth but largely unseen by the human eye. Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg shows us the intricate world of pollen and pollinators with gorgeous high-speed images from his film "Wings of Life".
Plant-pollinator systems are threatened by pollinators’ decline. Learn more about the disappearance of honeybees in the US.
Both honeybees and humans originated in East Africa, and the connection between us has survived the ages. Some of your favorite delicacies -- coffee, chocolate, mangoes -- have the honeybee to thank for their hard work of pollination. Dino Martins encourages us to remember how much we owe to these magnificent insects.
More information about Fernanda Valdovinos’ scientific work on plant-pollinator networks is available in her website. Fernanda belongs to "Pacific Ecoinformatics and Computational Ecology Lab" (PEaCE Lab).
Other researchers well known in the topic are Berry Brosi, Pedro Jordano, and Jordi Bascompte, among others.
"I specialize in not specializing, but my work has focused on 3 broad themes: Ecology and Network Theory, Data Storytelling, Making the Complex Simple. I like to connect the dots among problems, people, projects, and pretty much anything, actually." Eric Berlow
Pollination is vital to life on Earth but largely unseen by the human eye. Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg shows us the intricate world of pollen and pollinators with gorgeous high-speed images from his film "Wings of Life".
Plant-pollinator systems are threatened by pollinators’ decline. Learn more about the disappearance of honeybees in the US.
Both honeybees and humans originated in East Africa, and the connection between us has survived the ages. Some of your favorite delicacies -- coffee, chocolate, mangoes -- have the honeybee to thank for their hard work of pollination. Dino Martins encourages us to remember how much we owe to these magnificent insects.
More information about Fernanda Valdovinos’ scientific work on plant-pollinator networks is available in her website. Fernanda belongs to "Pacific Ecoinformatics and Computational Ecology Lab" (PEaCE Lab).
Other researchers well known in the topic are Berry Brosi, Pedro Jordano, and Jordi Bascompte, among others.
"I specialize in not specializing, but my work has focused on 3 broad themes: Ecology and Network Theory, Data Storytelling, Making the Complex Simple. I like to connect the dots among problems, people, projects, and pretty much anything, actually." Eric Berlow
About TED-Ed Animations
TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »
Meet The Creators
- Educator Fernanda S. Valdovinos
- Collaborator Eric Berlow
- Animator Nadav Arbel
- Artist Moran Barak
- Narrator Addison Anderson
