Tattoo by Dave Kotinsley, Gainesville, FL

The Birds And the Bees and the Pollinator Syndrome [Science Ink Sunday]

ByCarl Zimmer
March 16, 2014

Jacob Landis writes, “I’m a graduate student at the University of Florida studying flower evolutionary development with a focus on plant/pollinator interactions. My ink represents the concept that I have been working on for almost 6 years now. This piece shows three species in the Phlox family. The red and white flowers are both part of the genus Ipomopsis and the blue/purple flower is in the closely related Polemonium. The pollinator of each flower is shown interacting with the flower. These interactions represent the concept of pollinator syndromes: certain features of the flower will attract certain pollinators. The long red tubular flowers attract hummingbirds, the white tubular flowers attract hawk moths, and the more open blue/purple flowers often attract bees.”

You can see the rest of the Science Tattoo Emporium here or in my book, Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed. (The paperback edition comes out in May; you can pre-order here.)

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