Shooting Stars and Pollinators at Chiwaukee Prairie State Natural Area

October 4, 2024  |  Topics: Places

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By Jeff Karron

My UW-Milwaukee students and I recently produced a nine-minute natural history video highlighting the ecology of wildflowers and pollinators at Chiwaukee Prairie State Natural Area. This beautiful tallgrass prairie in southeastern Kenosha County features a mosaic of wetland plant communities, and has been designated a National Natural Landmark by the US National Park Service.

We use slow motion macro cinematography to provide an extraordinary perspective on the natural history of plants, highlighting Shooting Stars, and pollinators, bumblebees in particular, at this site.

Shooting star plants have a highly unusual pollination mechanism known as “buzz pollination.”  Bumblebees vibrate the flowers at high frequency (300-400 times per second), causing pollen to be released explosively onto the underside of the bee. As bees continue to forage for pollen on additional plants, some of the pollen on their bodies is deposited onto stigmas of flowers on other plants, promoting cross-pollination and seed production.

This video provides unique footage of the ecology of bumble bees, with extraordinary clips of bumble bees mating and searching for nest sites.

Youtube video link:  https://youtu.be/fQsnPAWQqcI

For more information about Chiwaukee Prairie State Natural Area go to our Find-a-Park page.

Related stories:

Chiwaukee Prairie: If You Restore It, They Will Come

Forbs and Fun at Chiwaukee Prairie State Natural Area!

Jeffry Karron is a Professor of Biology at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

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