The Nature Pages

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	Conserving Migratory Pollinators and Nectar Corridors in Western North America edited by Gary Paul Nabhan University of Arizona Press, 2004.
	"When the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared that honeybee declines in the 1990s had triggered a 'pollination crisis' of unprecedented proportions, a larger number of researchers whose work had been under-valued for decades suddenly had the attention of both journalists and policy-makers," notes Gary Paul Nabham, editor of this collection of research papers on comparative zoogeography and conservation biology. "They soon established that the question was not merely one of 'how to save the honeybee' but, more broadly, how to best maintain and restore the wildlands habitats that support the many pollinator species providing services essential to ecosystem health and food production."		From the beginning of overwintering until the arrival in the far north of the continent, five to six generations of butterflies will have prospered. Of these, the last of them will emerge primarily in September. By the beginning of October, list last generation of butterflies will follow a route they themselves have never traveled in order to reach the overwintering grounds in Mexico or California.   The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
	Farmers, florists, economists and consumers too often take for granted the "free" pollination service that is a byproduct of a healthy and diverse ecosystem. But without investment in the preservation and maintenance of ecosystems, they will be lost, and with them their pollinators.
Search our selection channels between tof new, used and out-of-print books.	The studies in this text demonstrate the vital importance of migratory pollinators -- rufous hummingbirds, white-winged doves, lesser long-nosed bats, and monarch butterflies in particular -- and the "nectar trails" that are critical to their survival. Like wildlife corridors or waterfowl flyways, the nectar trails provide the habitats and nutrients necessary for successful migrations of each species.		Doves obtain nutrients and water from saguaros. What do saguaros receive in return? Because doves visit both the flowers and the fruit of saguaros, they are potential pollinators and seed dispersers. When saguaros are in bloom, white-winged doves visit their flowers frequently and appear to carry large pollen loads. Saguaros and White-Winged Doves
	The nine studies combine to demonstrate the importance of the nectar trails and how distinct their stopover sites and foraging strategies are from the migrations of other species. As domumented, the findings are making a difference through habitat enhancement and restoration projects by landowners, "safe site" designations by government agencies, and education programs among schoolchildren and land managers.