 |
|||||
One of six thematic networks of the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN), the IABIN Pollinators Thematic Network (IABIN PTN) will develop a western hemisphere network for access to and exchange of pollinator information. Bees, bats, and hummingbirds are some of the most important pollinators of wild and cultivated plants in the Western Hemisphere. Pollinators provide an essential ecological service to wild and cultivated plants. By facilitating information access and exchange, the IABIN PTN will support successful monitoring and management of pollinator populations throughout the western hemisphere. The action of pollinators, as pollen vectors, ensures the continuity of sexual life cycles of plants and the genetic variability that plant populations need to survive and continue to evolve. Pollination produces the seeds and fruits upon which many other wild animals depend for food and for the quality and quantity of our crop plants needed to feed the human population. We do not yet have the basic knowledge required to design a comprehensive action plan to monitor, manage, and conserve wild pollinators. We need to know how many pollinating species there are, their names, where they live, and what they pollinate. Without this information we will not be able to link the scattered biological, ecological and agricultural data in an efficient retrieval system. By facilitating information access and exchange, the IABIN PTN will support successful monitoring and management of pollinator populations throughout the Western Hemisphere.
|
|||||
