Pollinating insects include honeybees as well as many kinds of native bees, flies, and even mosquitoes. When plants such as prairie phlox and purple prairie clover are growing in very small patches in prairie remnants in Iowa, bees can't find them, and those plants aren't pollinated. Larger patches are adequately pollinated by several bee species. On the other hand, if invasive plant species are too attractive to bees, some native plants may be ignored. This seems to be happening in North Dakota when the weedy leafy spurge is encroaching on the habitat of the native perennial flax.
Investigators study the relationships between plants and pollinators in a variety of ways.
To find out whether bees are doing their job, we count the pollen grains brought to flowers, and the number of seeds produced by plants. We can observe, collect, and rear out the insect visitors, either at flowers or at their nests in the ground or in twigs. We can also count and survey insect visits to plants, and design experiments in which we label and manipulate flowers, mark or exclude pollinators, examine pollen tubes, or analyze nectar.