{"id":16584,"date":"2020-12-14T09:00:34","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T14:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=16584"},"modified":"2020-12-01T11:06:51","modified_gmt":"2020-12-01T16:06:51","slug":"annabelle-simpson-a-pollinator-protector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2020\/12\/14\/annabelle-simpson-a-pollinator-protector\/","title":{"rendered":"Annabelle Simpson, a Pollinator Protector"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Anayeli Camacho, VRG Intern<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the U.S. Forest Service, animal pollinators are\nresponsible for the reproduction of over 80% of the world\u2019s flowering plants.\nThe USDA says, \u201cSome\nscientists estimate that one out of every three bites of food we eat exists\nbecause of animal pollinators like bees, butterflies and moths, birds and bats,\nand beetles and other insects \u2026 Pollinators visit flowers in their search for\nfood (nectar and pollen). During a flower visit, a pollinator may accidentally\nbrush against the flower\u2019s reproductive parts, unknowingly depositing pollen\nfrom a different flower. The plant then uses the pollen to produce a fruit or\nseed. Many plants cannot reproduce without pollen carried to them by foraging\npollinators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the population of pollinators declines, the search for\nsolutions is a focus in many lives. Every day, more people are deciding to join\nthe movement to help sustain our ecosystem. Having the privilege of\ninterviewing a life-giver such as Annabelle Simpson, who devotes much of her\nenergy to the protection of pollinators, I had the opportunity to understand\nthe importance of our need to act in protecting pollinators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Annabelle said, \u201cThe implications of the pollinators\u2019 process is\nimportant for us [because] they are responsible for many of the fruits and vegetables\nthat we eat and without pollinators we wouldn’t have bananas, apples, nuts,\npeaches, just to name a few.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a young undergrad student, Annabelle took a course in\nbiochemistry, where she did a paper on fireflies. \u201cGrowing up I never really\nsaw fireflies. It fascinated me; this is where my interest in things nature\nbegan.\u201d After retiring, Annabelle enrolled in a state university certified\nprogram called Master Gardeners. Transitioning from urban to rural living\nallowed Annabelle a way to invest a great deal of energy in the protection of\npollinators, starting with butterflies, then finding her way to the honeybees\nand a wide range of pollinators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As knowledge and understanding of pollinators and their importance\ngrew, so did her passion to conserve these beautiful life-givers. Annabelle\nstated, \u201cAfter moving to Pennsylvania, I started what we refer to as a\npollinator garden, [where we] focused on the encouragement of local native\npollinators in this part of Pennsylvania. Pollinator gardens benefit the\necosystem and are a way for us humans to give back to the life that always\ngives to us. With these gardens, we can supply food to native pollinators. They\nin return pollinate our crops for continued fruit and vegetable production. It\nis amazing how many different ways the whole pollinator process is developed.\nYou would never think that so many creatures would be responsible [for] such an\nimportant process. You gain a new appreciation for the smallest representatives\nin nature\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have converted their natural habitat into croplands or\nsuburban development, [taking] away from their nesting sites. We have reduced\nthe plant diversity that they need to survive. The diseases and parasites in\nour changing climate contribute to the overall decline in the population of\npollinators. For most of my life I had no thought of pollinators. Growing up in\nThe Bronx [in New York], I didn’t pay attention to [the importance of\npollinators]. Nature was on its own; I never really thought of it from a\nperspective of decline. Simply going to get a little information, a little bit\nof information makes you put up your head and look around. The next time you\nsee a fly, the first thing you think of isn\u2019t to swat it but AWE that could be\na pollinator. You get to appreciate a lot more once you get into a topic like\npollination and learn a little more. Then it extends to another topic like\ncompost, [or] what some would call black gold. You open the door to nature, and\nit will reward you intellectually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a small instinct of curiosity comes a possibility of\nknowledge beyond what you could have imagined. Pollinators are a crucial part\nof our ecosystem. Through things such as pollinator gardens we can give back to\nthe life that gives to us so generously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional Information regarding Pollinators:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

XERCES Society: https:\/\/www.xerces.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/ento.psu.edu\/research\/centers\/pollinators<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Anayeli Camacho, VRG Intern According to the U.S. Forest Service, animal pollinators are responsible for the reproduction of over 80% of the world\u2019s flowering plants. The USDA says, \u201cSome scientists estimate that one out of every three bites of food we eat exists because of animal pollinators like bees, butterflies and moths, birds and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16586,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16584\/revisions\/16586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}