Mystery Pollinators
Objectives:
TLW investigate the concept of co-evolution by classifying flowering plants into
certain pollinator groups.
Background:
Pollination systems are generally specialized so as to have only one or few pollinating species that are in the same taxonomic group (e.g. hummingbirds) per
plant species. This specialization is a result of co-evolution. A well known example of this can be found in the bee-snapdragon pollination relationship. Snapdragons only open when a certain weight of bee lands which allows these flowers to be extremely selectively pollinated.
For this activity students will generalize pollinators into five general groups of
animals: Hummingbirds, Bees, Butterflies, Moths, and Bats. All flowers and pollinators found in the cards are from Costa Rican tropical rainforests. More information on which pollinators and their flower types can be found at the end of the
procedure.
For more information, see www.pbs.org/americanfieldguide and
biology.clc.uc.edu/courses/bio303/coevolution.htm.
http://
Advance Preparation:
For the initial use of this activity, the pollinator and flower cards will need to be
printed (www.ciser.ttu.edu/outreach) and cut out for each group of students. After this no preparation is needed.
Materials: (per group of 2— 4)

15 Flower cards

5 Pollinator cards
© 2005 Sarah Fraser. Center for the Integration of Science Education and Research (CISER), Texas Tech University
Procedure:
1. Hand out the flower cards to teams of students and have them group the cards
in any way they see fit.
2. After all student teams have categorized their flower cards, a selected representative from each team should explain to the class how they organized the
cards.
3. Discuss as a class the idea of specialized pollination systems. This discussion
should include brainstorming about what common pollinating animals might be
and what flower adaptations these pollinators would need.
4. Allow students time to regroup their cards if necessary (continue to allow them
to choose the groupings).
5. After students have regrouped the cards, hand out the pollinator cards and instruct the students to match the pollinators with flower groups.
6. As the students match pollinators to flower groups, they should justify their
matches to you and each other. You may need to guide them towards certain
conclusions as there are correct answers for each pollinator animal.
Pollinator
Flower characteristics (general)
Correct answers
Butterfly
Bright colors, clustered, landing platforms, no smell, short tube
I. walleriana, L. camara, A.
curassavica
Hummingbird
Red/orange, tubular (to fit beak length),
grow at “flight height,” no smell
Heliconiaceae, H. patens,
H. blepharorhachis,
C. magnifica
Bee
White, yellow, blue, UV; flat; landing plat- Orchidaceae, Asteraceae, I.
form; close to ground
pes-caprae, B. chlorantha
Bat
White, open at night, large and fleshy,
sometimes hanging, musty odor
Moth
White, open at night, strong sweet smell, P. latifolia, P. rubra
tube fits proboscis
M. urens, A. latifolia
© 2005 Sarah Fraser. Center for the Integration of Science Education and Research (CISER), Texas Tech University
Assessment Suggestions:

Student groups could choose one of the 5 pollinator groups to research and
present in depth to the class.

Matching of pollinator to correct flower group can be assessed.

Students can infer probably pollinator type based on flower characteristics for
new (previously unseen) flowering plants.
Resources:
www.pbs.org/americanfieldguide
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/courses/bio303/coevolution.htm
Mucuna urens picture from www.botgard.ucla.edu
Sphinx moth picture from www.worldwildlife.org
Bawa, K.S. 1990. Plant-Pollinator Interactions in Tropical Rain Forests. Ann. Rev.
Ecol. Syst. 21: 300-422.
Murray, K. Greg, Sharon Kinsman, and Judith L. Bronstein. 2000. Plant-Animal
Interactions. Pages 245-256 in Nadkarni, Nalini M., and Nathaniel T.
Wheelwright, editors. Monteverde: Ecology and Conservation of a Tropical
Cloud Forest. Oxford University Press, New York, USA.
© 2005 Sarah Fraser. Center for the Integration of Science Education and Research (CISER), Texas Tech University