Why native pollinator gardens?

Did you know that you can thank pollinators for one out of every three bites of food you eat?

You probably didn't know. In which case you probably aren't thinking much about how your daily life affects the health of those pollinators — that wide array of beneficial species responsible for some of the most crucial links in the whole world's food chain.

So hear this: Pollinators may be our planet's most ecologically and economically important group of animals. They provide stability for every terrestrial ecosystem in the world, because wild flowering plants depend on these native bees, flies, butterflies, beetles, moths, bats, birds and other animals to reproduce. Other wildlife then eat the fruits and seeds that result from pollination, spreading the seeds that in turn give rise to future generations of plants. Most of the world's other wildlife (including insects) — and more than 250,000 wild flowering plants — need native pollinators to exist.

And of course that's not counting us humans. Significant portions of the world's human food supply rely on the health of native pollinator populations — particularly those of bees, one of the main groups of pollinators. But despite pollinators' vast importance, amazing diversity and frightening imperilment, these special creatures are often overlooked and misunderstood. Many people simply don't comprehend or appreciate the complex ecology of wild plant reproduction. (Source: biologicaldiversity.org)