INVESTIGATORY

PROJECT

NAME – CHIRASMITA
SAHOO

CLASS – XII

ROLL NO. – 08

SUBJECT – BIOLOGY

TOPIC – POLLINATION

SCHOOL – DAV PUBLIC

 Abstract
 Introduction
 Process
 Fertilization
 Types Of Pollination
 Mechanism
 Pollen Vectors
 Conclusion
 Bibliography
POLLINATIO
N
Abstract
Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred
to the female reproductive organs of a plant, thereby
enabling fertilization to take place. Like all living
organisms, seed plants have a single major purpose: to
pass their genetic information on to the next
generation. The reproductive unit is the seed, and
pollination is an essential step in the production of
seeds in all spermatophytes (seed plants). For the
process of pollination to be successful, a pollen grain
produced by the anther, the male part of a flower,
must be transferred to a stigma, the female part of the
flower, of a plant of the same species. The process is
rather different in angiosperms (flowering plants) from
what it is in gymnosperms (other seed plants). In
angiosperms, after the pollen grain has landed on the
stigma, it creates a pollen tube which grows down the
style until it reaches the ovary. Sperm cells from the
pollen grain then move along the pollen tube, enter
the egg cell through the micropyle and fertilise it,
resulting in the production of a seed.
A successful angiosperm pollen grain (gametophyte)
containing the male gametes is transported to the
stigma, where it germinates and its pollen tube grows
down the style to the ovary. Its two gametes travel
down the tube to where the gametophyte(s)
containing the female gametes are held within the
carpel. One nucleus fuses with the polar bodies to
produce the endosperm tissues, and the other with the
ovule to produce the embryo, Hence the term: "double
fertilization".

Introduction
In gymnosperms, the ovule is not contained in a carpel,
but exposed on the surface of a dedicated support
organ, such as the scale of a cone, so that the
penetration of carpel tissue is unnecessary. Details of
the process vary according to the division of
gymnosperms in question. Two main modes of
fertilization are found in gymnosperms. Cycads and
Ginkgo have motile sperm that swim directly to the egg
inside the ovule, whereas conifers and gnetophytes
have sperm that are unable to swim but are conveyed
to the egg along a pollen tube.
The study of pollination brings together many
disciplines, such as botany, horticulture, entomology,
and ecology. The pollination process as an interaction
between flower and pollen vector was first addressed
in the 18th century by Christian Konrad Sprengel. It is
important in horticulture and agriculture, because
fruiting is dependent on fertilization: the result of
pollination. The study of pollination by insects is known
as anthecology.

Process
Pollen germination has three stages; hydration,
activation and pollen tube emergence. The pollen grain
is severely dehydrated so that its mass is reduced
enabling it to be more easily transported from flower
to flower.
Germination only takes place after rehydration,
ensuring that premature germination does not take
place in the anther. Hydration allows the plasma
membrane of the pollen grain to reform into its normal
bilayer organization providing an effective osmotic
membrane. Activation involves the development of
actin filaments throughout the cytoplasm of the cell,
which eventually become concentrated at the point
from which the pollen tube will emerge. Hydration and
activation continue as the pollen tube begins to grow.
In conifers, the reproductive structures are borne on
cones. The cones are either pollen cones (male) or
ovulate cones (female), but some species are
monoecious and others dioecious. A pollen cone
contains hundreds of microsporangia carried on (or
borne on) reproductive structures called sporophylls.
Spore mother cells in the microsporangia divide by
meiosis to form haploid microspores that develop
further by two mitotic divisions into immature male
gametophytes (pollen grains). The four resulting cells
consist of a large tube cell that forms the pollen tube, a
generative cell that will produce two sperm by mitosis,
and two prothallial cells that degenerate. These cells
comprise a very reduced microgametophyte, that is
contained within the resistant wall of the pollen grain.
The pollen grains are dispersed by the wind to the
female, ovulate cone that is made up of many
overlapping scales (sporophylls, and thus
megasporophylls), each protecting two ovules, each of
which consists of a megasporangium (the nucellus)
wrapped in two layers of tissue, the integument and
the cupule, that were derived from highly modified
branches of ancestral gymnosperms. When a pollen
grain lands close enough to the tip of an ovule, it is
drawn in through the micropyle (a pore in the
integuments covering the tip of the ovule) often by
means of a drop of liquid known as a pollination drop.
The pollen enters a pollen chamber close to the
nucellus, and there it may wait for a year before it
germinates and forms a pollen tube that grows
through the wall of the megasporangium (=nucellus)
where fertilisation takes place. During this time, the
megaspore mother cell divides by meiosis to form four
haploid cells, three of which degenerate. The surviving
one develops as a megaspore and divides repeatedly to
form an immature female gametophyte (egg sac). Two
or three archegonia containing an egg then develop
inside the gametophyte. Meanwhile, in the spring of
the second year two sperm cells are produced by
mitosis of the body cell of the male gametophyte. The
pollen tube elongates and pierces and grows through
the megasporangium wall and delivers the sperm cells
to the female gametophyte inside. Fertilisation takes
place when the nucleus of one of the sperm cells
enters the egg cell in the megagametophyte’s
archegonium.
In flowering plants, the anthers of the flower produce
microspores by meiosis. These undergo mitosis to form
male gametophytes, each of which contains two
haploid cells. Meanwhile, the ovules produce
megaspores by meiosis, further division of these form
the female gametophytes, which are very strongly
reduced, each consisting only of a few cells, one of
which is the egg. When a pollen grain adheres to the
stigma of a carpel it germinates, developing a pollen
tube that grows through the tissues of the style,
entering the ovule through the micropyle. When the
tube reaches the egg sac, two sperm cells pass through
it into the female gametophyte and fertilisation takes
place

Fertilization
Types of Pollination
»»Depending on the source of pollen, pollination can
be classified into 2 types -
Self-pollination and Cross Pollination (Xenogamy). Self
pollination is further divided into Autogamy and
Geitonogamy. Depending on agent of Pollination,
pollination can be classified into abiotic pollination and
biotic pollination.
• Self Pollination
 It is the type of Pollination in which pollen grains are
transferred from anther to the stigma of the same
flower (Autogamy) or pollen grains are transferred
from anther to the stigma of different flower of the
same plant (Geitonogamy).
•Cross Pollination or Xenogamy
It is the type of pollination in which pollen grains are
transferred from anther to the stigma of a different
plant.
»»On the Basis of Pollinating Agent -
• Abiotic
Abiotic pollination refers to situations where
pollination is mediated without the involvement of
other organisms. The most common form of abiotic
pollination, anemophily, is pollination by wind. Wind
pollination is very imprecise, with a minute proportion
of pollen grains landing by chance on a suitable
receptive stigma, the rest being wasted in the
environment. This form of pollination is used by
grasses, most conifers, and many deciduous trees.
Hydrophily is pollination by water, and occurs in
aquatic plants which release their pollen directly into
the surrounding water. About 80% of all plant
pollination is biotic. In gymnosperms, biotic pollination
is generally incidental when it occurs, though some
gymnosperms and their pollinators are mutually
adapted for pollination. The best-known examples
probably are members of the order Cycadales and
associated species of beetles.
Of the abiotically pollinated species of plant, 98% are
anemophilous and 2% hydrophilous, their pollen being
transported by water. It is thought that among
angiosperms, entomophily is the primitive state; this is
indicated by the vestigial nectaries in the wind-
pollinated Urtica and other plants, and the presence of
fragrances in some of these plants. Of the
angiosperms, grasses, sedges, rushes and catkin-
bearing plants are in general wind pollinated. Other
flowering plants are mostly biotic, the pollen being
carried by animal vectors. However, a number of plants
in multiple families have secondarily adopted wind
pollination in contrast to other members of their
groups. Some plants are intermediate between the two
pollination methods. common heather is regularly
pollinated by insects, but produce clouds of pollen and
some wind pollination is inevitable, and the hoary
plantain is primarily wind pollinated, but is also visited
by insects which pollinate it.
• Biotic
 More commonly, the process of pollination requires
pollinators: organisms that carry or move the pollen
grains from the anther of one flower to the receptive
part of the carpel or pistil (stigma) of another. This is
biotic pollination. The various flower traits (and
combinations thereof) that differentially attract one
type of pollinator or another are known as pollination
syndromes. At least 100,000 species of animal, and
possibly as many as 200,000, act as pollinators of the
estimated 250,000 species of flowering plants in the
world. The majority of these pollinators are insects, but
about 1,500 species of birds and mammals have been
reported to visit flowers and may transfer pollen
between them. Besides birds and bats which are the
most frequent visitors, these include monkeys, lemurs,
squirrels, rodents and possums. Entomophily,
pollination by insects, often occurs on plants that have
developed coloured petals and a strong scent to attract
insects such as, bees, wasps and occasionally ants
(Hymenoptera), beetles (Coleoptera), moths and
butterflies (Lepidoptera), and flies (Diptera).
The existence of insect pollination dates back to the
dinosaurera. Inzoophily, pollination is performed by
vertebrates such as birds and bats, particularly,
hummingbirds, sunbirds, spiderhunters, honeyeaters,
and fruit bats. Ornithophily or bird pollination is the
pollination of flowering plants by birds. Chiropterophily
or bat pollination is the pollination of flowering plants
by bats. Plants adapted to use bats or moths as
pollinators typically have white petals, strong scent and
flower at night, whereas plants that use birds as
pollinators tend to produce copious nectar and have
red petals. Insect pollinators such as honey bees
(Apismellifera), bumblebees (Bombusterrestris),and
butterflies (Thymelicusflavus) have been observed to
engage in flower constancy, which means they are
more likely to transfer pollen to other conspecific
plants. This can be beneficial for the pollinators, as
flower constancy prevents the loss of pollen during
interspecific flights and pollinators from clogging
stigmas with pollen of other flower species. It also
improves the probability that the pollinator will find
productive flowers easily accessible and recognisable
by familiar clues.

Mechanism
Pollination can be accomplished by cross-pollination or
by self-pollination:
Cross-pollination, also called allogamy, occurs when
pollen is delivered from the stamen of one flower to
the stigma of a flower on another plant of the same
species. Plants adapted for cross-pollination have
several mechanisms to prevent self-pollination; the
reproductive organs may be arranged in such a way
that self-fertilisation is unlikely, or the stamens and
carpels may mature at different times.
Modes of Cross Pollination:
The agencies which transfer pollen grains from anthers
of one flower to the stigma of a different flowers are as
follows: WIND (Anemophily), WATER (Hydrophily),
INSECTS (Entomophily), BIRDS (Ornithophily)' and BATS
(Cheiropterophily).
(1) Anemophily:
Anemophilous plants produce enormous amount
of.pollen grains: A single plant of Mercurialis annually
has been estimated to produce 1,352,000,000 pollen
grains. Anemophilous plants bear small and
inconspicuous flower. The pollen grains are small, light,
smooth and dry. Pollen of some plants are said to be
blown to 1,300 km. In some plants as Pinus, pollen
grains are winged.
The flowers are usually unisexual in some plants e.g.
Mulberry is borne in independent catkins which can
sway freely and shake off their pollen in air. The
flowers may be borne on long axis (as in grasses) much
above the leaves.
The anther is versatile so as to oscillate in all directions
at the tip of filament. In Urticaceae filaments are very
long. Anempohilous flowers have adequate devices to
catch the air-borne-pollen grains with utmost
efficiency. For this the stigma is usually large and
feathery (as in grasses) and brush like as in Typha.
(2) Hydrophily:
It is of two types -
•Hypohydrogamy
Includes plants which are pollinated inside the water,
e.g. Ceratophyllum, Najas.
•Epihydrogamy
Vallisneria spiralis (ribbon weed) is a submerged
dioecious plant. The flowers are borne under water.
When mature, the male flower get detached from the
parent plant and float on the surface of water. The
pistillate flowers also develop under water, at the time
of pollination, they are brought to the surface by their
long and slender stalks. As it arrives on the surface it
forms a cuplike depression. If male flowers floating on
water get lodged into the depression, the pollination
takes place. After pollination, the stalk of the pistillate
flower undergoes spiral torsion bringing the pollinated
flower under water once more.
(3) Entomophily:
Some of the insects which help in pollination are bees,
flies, wasps, moths and beetles. Bees, flies and beetles
visit flowers which open after sunset. Bees probably
carry out 80% of all pollination done by insects. Bee
pollinated flowers are coloured, possess special smell
and/or produce nectar. Pollen grains are sticky or with
spinousexine. Also the stigma is sticky and bees are
colour blind for red.
(4) Ornithophily:
Tiny birds like humming birds and honey thrushes
(hardly 1 inch long) feeds on the nectar of flower like
Bignonia, Erythrina is visited by crows.
(5) Chiropteriphily:
Bauhinia megalandra of Java and Anthocephalus are
pollinated by bats.
(6) Malcophily:
Many aroids which are usually pollinated by Diptera
are also pollinated by snails.
• Self-pollination occurs when pollen from one flower
pollinates the same flower or other flowers of the
same individual. It is thought to have evolved under
conditions when pollinators were not reliable vectors
for pollen transport, and is most often seen in short-
lived annual species and plants that colonize new
locations. Self-pollination may include autogamy,
where pollen is transferred to the female part of the
same flower; or geitonogamy, when pollen is
transferred to another flower on the same plant. Plants
adapted to self-fertilize often have similar stamen and
carpel lengths. Plants that can pollinate themselves
and produce viable offspring are called self-fertile.
Plants that cannot fertilize themselves are called self-
sterile, a condition which mandates cross-pollination
for the production of offspring.
• Cleistogamy is self-pollination that occurs before the
flower opens. The pollen is released from the anther
within the flower or the pollen on the anther grows a
tube down the style to the ovules. It is a type of sexual
breeding, in contrast to asexual systems such as
apomixis. Some cleistogamous flowers never open, in
contrast to chasmogamous flowers that open and are
then pollinated. Cleistogamous flowers are by
necessity found on self-compatible or self-fertile
plants. Although certain orchids and grasses are
entirely cleistogamous, other plants resort to this
strategy under adverse conditions. Often there may be
a mixture of both cleistogamous and chasmogamous
flowers, sometimes on different parts of the plant and
sometimes in mixed inflorescences. The ground bean
produces cleistogamous flowers below ground, and
mixed cleistogamous and chasmogamous flowers
above.
Pollen vectors
Biotic pollen vectors are animals, usually insects, but
also reptiles, birds, mammals, and sundry others, that
routinely transport pollen and play a role in pollination.
This is usually as a result of their activities when visiting
plants for feeding, breeding or shelter. The pollen
adheres to the vector's body parts such as face, legs,
mouthparts, hair, feathers, and moist spots; depending
on the particular vector. Such transport is vital to the
pollination of many plant species.
Any kind of animal that often visits or encounters
flowers is likely to be a pollen vector to some extent.
For example, a crab spider that stops at one flower for
a time and then moves on, might carry pollen
incidentally, but most pollen vectors of significant
interest are those that routinely visit the flowers for
some functional activity. They might feed on pollen, or
plant organs, or on plant secretions such as nectar, and
carry out acts of pollination on the way. Many plants
bear flowers that favour certain types of pollinator
over all others. This need not always be an effective
strategy, because some flowers that are of such a
shape that they favor pollinators that pass by their
anthers and stigmata on the way to the nectar, may
get robbed by ants that are small enough to bypass the
normal channels, or by short-tongued bees that bite
through the bases of deep corolla tubes to extract
nectar at the end opposite to the anthers and stigma.
Some pollinator species can show huge variation in
pollination effectiveness because their ability to carry
pollen is impacted by some morphological trait. This is
the case in the white-lined sphinx moth, in which
short-tongued morphs collect pollen on their heads but
long-tongued morphs do not carry any pollen. Some
flowers have specialized mechanisms to trap
pollinators to increase effectiveness. Other flowers will
attract pollinators by odour. For example, bee species
such as Euglossacordata are attracted to orchids this
way, and it has been suggested that the bees will
become intoxicated during these visits to the orchid
flowers, which last up to 90 minutes. However, in
general, plants that rely on pollen vectors tend to be
adapted to their particular type of vector, for example
day-pollinated species tend to be brightly coloured, but
if they are pollinated largely by birds or specialist
mammals, they tend to be larger and have larger
nectar rewards than species that are strictly insect-
pollinated. They also tend to spread their rewards over
longer periods, having long flowering seasons; their
specialist pollinators would be likely to starve if the
pollination season were too short
CONCLUSIONS
Pollination management is a branch of agriculture that
seeks to protect and enhance present pollinators and
often involves the culture and addition of pollinators in
monoculture situations, such as commercial fruit
orchards. The largest managed pollination event in the
world is in Californian almond orchards, where nearly
half (about one million hives) of the US honey bees are
trucked to the almond orchards each spring. New
York's apple crop requires about 30,000 hives; Maine's
blueberry crop uses about 50,000 hives each year.
Bees are also brought to commercial plantings of
cucumbers, squash, melons, strawberries, and many
other crops. Honey bees are not the only managed
pollinators: a few other species of bees are also raised
as pollinators. The alfalfa leafcutter bee is an important
pollinator for alfalfa seed in western United States and
Canada. Bumblebees are increasingly raised and used
extensively for green house tomatoes and other crops.
The ecological and financial importance of natural
pollination by insects to agricultural crops, improving
their quality and quantity, becomes more and more
appreciated and has given rise to new financial
opportunities. The vicinity of a forest or wild grasslands
with native pollinators near agricultural crops, such as
apples, almonds or coffee can improve their yield by
about 20%. The benefits of native pollinators may
result in forest owners demanding payment for their
contribution in the improved crop results – a simple
example of the economic value of ecological services.
Farmers can also raise native crops in order to promote
native bee pollinator species as shown with L. vierecki
in Delaware and L. leucozonium in southwest Virginia.

Bibliography
 Biological Science: Third Edition By, N. P. O. Green
(Author), G. W. Stout (Author), D. J. Taylor (Author), R.
Soper (Editor)
 Exploring Biology By, Ella Thea Smith
 NCERT Text Book
 Tell Me Why
 Encyclopaedia Britannica