Let Me Tell You ’Bout the Birds and the Bees.

Author Olivia Carrol discusses the importance of birds and bees to our environment.

Central New Mexico Audubon Society February Program

Olivia Carril, co-author of The Bees in Your Backyard: A Guide to North America’s Bees

Bees are an integral part of most functioning ecosystems, as they work to pollinate many of the plants that form the center of the food web. Many birds also serve as important pollinators, and it has long been thought that birds and bees complement each other, divvying up floral resources between them. But it isn’t so cut and dried. Birds and bees often compete for floral resources, and flowers shift their cues to manipulate both kinds of pollinators. Olivia Carril will give an overview of native bees in the U.S. and in New Mexico and their roles in pollination. Finally, she will discuss the intricacies of pollination in an ecosystem where the organism who hedges her bets the best wins.