<p>Since plants have to mate and produce offspring while rooted to the spot, they have to be pollinated – by wind, water, or animals – most commonly insects. They use a surprising array of tricks to attract pollinators: striking colours, iridescent light effects, and enticing scents, to name but a few. </p><p>Insects, on the other hand, do not seek to pollinate plants – they are looking for food; so plants make sure it’s worth their while. Insects are also remarkably sophisticated in their ability to find, recognise and find their way inside flowers. </p><p>So pollination has evolved as a complex dance between plants and pollinators that is essential for life on earth to continue. </p><p>With </p><p>Beverley Glover, Director of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden</p><p>Jane Memmott, Professor of Ecology at the University of Bristol</p><p>And</p><p>Lars Chittka, Professor of Sensory and Behavioural Ecology at Queen Mary, University of London.</p><p>Producer: Eliane Glaser</p><p>Reading list:</p><p>Stephen L Buchmann and Gary Paul Nabhan, The Forgotten Pollinators (Island Press, 1997)</p><p>Lars Chittka, The Mind of a Bee (Princeton University Press, 2023)</p><p>Steven Falk, Field Guide to the Bees of Britain and Ireland (British Wildlife Publishing, 2015)</p><p>Francis S. Gilbert (illustrated by Steven J. Falk), Hoverflies: Naturalists' Handbooks vol. 5 (Pelagic Publishing, 2015)</p><p>Dave Goulson, A Sting in the Tale: My Adventures with Bumblebees (Vintage, 2014)</p><p>Edwige Moyroud and Beverley J. Glover, ‘The evolution of diverse floral morphologies’ (Current Biology vol 11, 2017)</p><p>Jeff Ollerton, Birds and Flowers: An Intimate 50 Million Year Relationship (Pelagic Publishing, 2024)
Alan E. Stubbs and Steven J. Falk, British Hoverflies (British Entomological & Natural History Society, 2002)</p><p>Timothy Walker, Pollination: The Enduring Relationship Between Plant and Pollinator (Princeton University Press, 2020)</p><p>In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production</p>
