A Review from the Editor, Jerry Hayes:
I am shared lots of information on lots of topics, subjects and research everyday. This one got my attention. Its pretty cool research outcome about how some plants have evolved to attract honey bees and other pollinators so those plants can reproduce and compete to out survive other flowering plants. Darwinian for sure.
Thermogenesis- The definition is…the production of heat in organisms. We are producing heat , 98.6 F, your dog and cat and chickens and all warm blooded animals. We all produce heat to stay alive.
But did you know that it has been discovered that some plants have developed this ability also to attract pollinators?
In the article, “Plants That Can Heat Up Have Been a Key Driver of Pollinator Evolution” , “ Thermogenesis in plants, which helps attract pollinators and support reproductive success, dates back 200 million years”
Honey Bees and other pollinators are attrcted to colors and Odors. Nectar and Pollen have odors. When a plant can heat up a flower those odors evaporate/disperse more quickly and in greater concentration than if not heated. As an example, if you are baking chocolate chip cookies in your kitchen it smells pretty good. The heat of the oven casues the cookie dough and chocolate chips to release their wonderful smell. After baking and the cookies cool you can’t smell much. So, if a plant can heat up the flower and the fragance of the flower is sent out into the air around the flower then more pollinators will pick up the fragrance be attracted to the flower and assist in pollination , ie. plant reproduction.
All that to say, the originial study was from the Botanical Institute of Barcelona (IBB) and going to the article in link is worth taking a read.
