How do mammals help in pollination?

Answer 1

Zoophily is a form of pollination whereby pollen is transferred by vertebrates, particularly by hummingbirds and other birds, and bats, but also by monkeys, marsupials, lemurs, bears, rabbits, deer, rodents, lizards and other animals.

Zoomophilous species, like entomophilous species, frequently evolve mechanisms to make themselves more appealing to the particular type of pollinator, e.g. brightly colored or scented flowers, nectar, and appealing shapes and patterns.
These plant animal relationships are often mutually beneficial because of the food source provided in exchange for pollination.



Bat Pollination

Most bat species that pollinate flowers inhabit Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands, although bat pollination occurs over a geographically wide range. Many fruits are dependent on bats for pollination, such as mangoes, bananas, and guavas .

Bat pollination is an integral process in tropical communities with 500 tropical plant species completely, or partially, dependent on bats for pollination .

Also, it has been noted that outcrossing (introducing unrelated genetic material into a breeding line) by bats increases genetic diversity and is important in tropical communities.

Plant Adaptations to Bats

Plants pollinated by bats often have white or pale nocturnal flowers that are large and bell shaped. Many of these flowers have large amounts of nectar, and emit a smell that attracts bats, such as a strong fruity or musky odor (Gibson 2001). Bats use certain chemcial cues to locate food sources. They are attracted to odors that contain esters, alcohols, aldehydes, and aliphatic acids (Gibson 2001).

Examples of Bat Pollination

The banana bat (Musonycteris harrisoni) is a nectarivorous species found only on the Pacific coast of Mexico. It has a very small geogrpahic range and is distinguishable by its extremely long nose. The long snout and tongue, one toungue recorded as measuring 76mm, allows this bat to feed on the nectar of long tubular flowers. This bat species is small, with the head and body length ranging from 70 to 79mm. The wild banana flower is elongated with a purple color .


Non-flying Mammal pollination


Non-flying mammals (to distinguish them from bats) have been found to feed on the nectar of several species of plant. Though some of these mammals are pollinators, others do not carry or transfer enough pollen to be considered pollinators.
This group of non-flying pollinators is mainly composed of marsupials, primates, and rodents.
Well-documented studies of non-flying mammal pollination now involve at least 59 species of mammal distributed among 19 families and six orders.

As of 1997, there were 85 species of plants from 43 genera and 19 families which were visited by these mammals .

In many cases, a plant species is visited by a range of mammals. Two examples of multiple mammal pollinotion are the genus Quararibea which is visited by 12 species and Combretum which is visited by 8.


Plant Adaptations to Non-flying Mammals

Plant species that feed non-flying mammals will often exhibit similar characteristics to aide in pollination. The flowers are often large and sturdy, or are grouped together as multi-flowered inflorescences. Many non-flying mammals are nocturnal and have an acute sense of smell, so the plants tend not to have bright showy colors, but instead excrete a pungent odor. Plants will often flower profusely and produce a large amount of sugar-rich nectar. These plants also tend to produce large amounts of pollen because mammals are larger than some other pollinators, and lack the precision smaller pollinators can achieve (Carthewa 1997). Animals with more precision, such as bees or other insects with a proboscis, can pollinate small flowers with less pollen necessary. This means that a plant will require more pollen for a larger mammal pollinator.

Examples of Non-flying Mammal Pollination

One example of a simbiotic relationship between a plant and its animal pollinators is the African Lily, Massonia depressa, and some rodent species of the Succulent Karoo region of South Africa. At least four rodent species, including two gerbil species, were found to be visiting M. depressa during the night .
Traits of the M. depressa flowers support non-flying mammal pollination. It has dull-colored and very sturdy flowers at ground level, has a strong yeasty odor, and secretes copious amounts of sucrose-dominant nectar during the night .

The nectar of M. depressa was also found to be 400 times as viscous, or resistant to flow, as an equivalent sugar solution. This jelly-like constistency of the nectar may discourage insect consumption while also facilitating lapping by rodents. It is assumed that M. depressa coevolved with its pollinators.

Answer 2

Bats or other mammals may drink the nectar from the flowers and then get pollen on themselves. They carry this pollen to the next flower as they keep searching for food.

Answer 3

By brushing against the pollen and distributing it amongst the other flowers; helping fertilization.
They are good at seed distribution too: some seed pods get stuck in their fur and drop off somewhere else. Some seeds get eaten in fruit, and also get deposited elsewhere.
M : )
P.S. Get pollen on your nose when you smell the flowers; it helps them procreate!!!

Answer 4

Deer eat flowers and brush against them spreading pollen as they walk by, as do many other critters. They also knock them around tossing pollen in the wind.

Answer 5

they can help by carrying the pollen to other plants on their fur.