Anyone that has ever tended to their own garden knows the importance of pollination because our prized veggies will not begin to grow until the act has occurred. The process of pollination, evolving over the previous 425 million years, can take a variety of forms, including wind-spread, insect, and self-pollination. Through evolution, plants have developed pollination processes that have the greatest benefit for their survival. In environments where pollinators are scarce or unreliable, plants may choose to spread their genetic information via the wind, achieving cross-pollination over large distances. Other plants, however, may be unwilling to rely on the environment and do it themselves through self-pollination (with flowers that have both male and female parts). These two processes, of course, have their disadvantages. Releasing via the wind involves relying on chance, hoping that a pollen grain meets up with another compatible flower. Self-pollination reduces the genetic diversity of a species (Similar to what happens in the backwoods of Tennessee, and we ALL know what those people are like), leaving the plants more susceptible to disease.
By relying on an insect, however, you practically ensure that a pollen grain will reach some other flower. While in flight, insects will visit a variety of flowers, bump around for a few seconds, and inadvertently deposit the genetic material onto the carpel. To gain some insight on the amount of pollen that these insects carry on their bodies, observe the picture below of the honey bee (I took this picture!!!).
Once this occurs, magic happens, seeds are produced, fleshy materials that we eat surround the seed (at least for angiosperms), the seed grows in the ground producing another plant, and the circle of life begins again. But how are these insects attracted to the flowers? How do they separate rewarding flowers (those that have nectar) from those that are non-rewarding? These questions, unfortunately, are still trying to be answered. The current opinion, however, seems to be a mixture of floral scent and color. The next post will deal with these interactions.
"To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour."
-William Blake
For the previous four years, I have been trained as an atmospheric scientist, observing and quantifying the movement of the chaotic fluid that engulfs us all. A fluid that provides us with the essential requirements for life, yet continuously amazes us with the dichotomy between its relentless power and inspiring beauty. Quantified by the laws of physics and personified by the words of language, the atmosphere exerts its influence on all living and non-living things that inhabit the interface between the air and land.
It is in this interface, the biosphere, where the interactions between the atmosphere and Earth are intertwined. Exchanges of heat, momentum, moisture, and countless other variables take place before our eyes, yet we are mostly blind to the magical transformations occurring all around us. For the next two years, this invisible world will become my playground, one filled with interdisciplinary hurdles that must be jumped before progress can be made. Biology, chemistry, ecology, and the atmosphere, all linked together in a beautiful tapestry that only Nature could produce.
My research will deal explicitly with floral emissions and their subsequent dispersion into the overlying atmosphere. A scent plume, if you will, of volatile compounds that acts as a signaling mechanism for plant/pollinator interactions and plant/plant communication. This signaling is an invisible line of communication, one which humans have not been given the ability to comprehend. We can, of course, gain great satisfaction from the wafting aroma of nearby flowers, but we are left in the dark when trying to analyze the underlying message. A message that whispers to pollinators to come near or herbivores to stay away. It is a world of deceit and mutualism, not much different from our very own.
So sit back, relax, and prepare yourself to learn about a hidden world that only science could uncover. Updates will be often, probably every other day. I will start at the beginning, and we will gradually progress and our ideas will become more sophisticated. But while dealing with the microscopic, let us not forget that we are a part of something larger, so large in fact, that we cannot even conceive its existence.
One year ago, the mountains of East Tennessee loomed in the distance as I made the 630 mile journey to my summer home of Oak Ridge, TN. Those nine weeks would teach me more about life than the previous 21 years combined. It was a summer that tested the waters in order to see whether I would sink or swim in a world filled with unfamiliarity. In a previous blog post, found here, I had mentioned how that upcoming summer was meant to search the soul more so than anything else. A piece of me, no matter how small, must have known that big changes were on the horizon. And oh boy, were those changes gigantic.
I left the north unsure of exactly where I wanted life to take me. The future was bright, but was it right? For my entire life, I had failed to break loose of familiarity, always having that comforting hand nearby when times got lonely or tough. That luxury was suddenly hundreds of miles away, and I was on my own. But in those nine weeks, after living alone, travelling to Mississippi for work, and meeting new friends, I discovered that my security blanket was simply a vestigial part of my old life. The fear of being alone and having nobody suddenly dissipated, and I felt like I could accomplish any goal set before me, with no blanket at all. Unfortunately, the security blanket that was tossed away had human emotions.
This is not the place to discuss past relationships, but to those youngsters reading this out there, be weary of high school “love”. At that age, you are driven by a desire to not be alone, and when you find that person who shows interest, “love” seems to blossom. Eventually, the years drift by and it becomes harder and harder to find. You fool yourself into believing that it is there, as the security blanket slowly weighs you down. The biggest decision of my life thus far was to throw that blanket away. It was easily the best decision of my life, human emotions be damned. Does that make me a terrible person? Nope, it makes me human. Had I never tossed that blanket away, I would have never experienced true love: A feeling that can unite two individuals no matter the distance or time that separates them.
That southern summer was one that I will never forget, and its memories will always be with me. For it was the summer of transformation, both personally and professionally. The road ahead was suddenly clear, and my soul was at rest.
This brings us to the current summer of 2010, where familiarity of place takes hold once more. State College, Pennsylvania : my home for the last four years. With my soul satisfied, heart softened, and future feeling right, it is time to buckle down and learn. Learn all there is to learn about the natural world, and lay the foundations of knowledge that will be necessary to one day change the world. I invite you to join the journey, and learn something along the way.
Once this occurs, magic happens, seeds are produced, fleshy materials that we eat surround the seed (at least for angiosperms), the seed grows in the ground producing another plant, and the circle of life begins again. But how are these insects attracted to the flowers? How do they separate rewarding flowers (those that have nectar) from those that are non-rewarding? These questions, unfortunately, are still trying to be answered. The current opinion, however, seems to be a mixture of floral scent and color. The next post will deal with these interactions.