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Moths are more efficient pollinators than bees: new research

phys.org

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Re: Moths are more efficient pollinators than bees: new research

#61

Post by peanutz454 »

soperj wrote: post #43
Maursault wrote: post #23

I hate bug zappers. They should be illegal. All they do is kill moths and beetles. They are entirely ineffective against mosquitoes and other biting flies, and their otherwise indiscriminate killing disrupts pollination and generally throws the local environment completely out of balance.

Mosquitoes are pollinators, only the females suck blood, and that's only to produce eggs.

Wow! Learned something new today. I've been misinformed into believe that mosquitoes are useless, and we should wipe them out.

Re: Moths are more efficient pollinators than bees: new research

#62

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

This phys.org article says:

> Moths are more efficient pollinators than bees, oh and bramble is important.

The underlying paper is an easy enough read that you probably don't need phys.org: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

It says:

- Many different species rely on bramble [e.g. raspberry, blackberry, etc...]

- Bramble fruits can grow twice as large if the flower was visited by multiple insects, which improves bramble's ability to support its many species

- Moths are an outsized contributor to the pollination of bramble, and therefore to supporting those many species

- So conservation efforts should focus on things that uniquely help moths, like limiting light pollution

Given the prevalence of pollinators that are hyper specialized to what they pollinate, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that general purpose pollinator efficiency is both a useless metric, and not what was studied here.

Re: Moths are more efficient pollinators than bees: new research

#63

Post by wiseowise »

peanutz454 wrote: post #61
soperj wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mosquitoes are pollinators, only the females suck blood, and that's only to produce eggs.

Wow! Learned something new today. I've been misinformed into believe that mosquitoes are useless, and we should wipe them out.

They are useless and harmful, there are far better pollinators than mosquitos.

Re: Moths are more efficient pollinators than bees: new research

#65

Post by rob74 »

11235813213455 wrote: post #64

I often watch butterflies, and they really suck flowers deep and long using their long straw-like antennas, more than bees. Note: flies, ants, and all kind of insects also "pollinate"

The nectar that butterflies suck is just the "bait" that flowers use to lure insects. What's more important is how much pollen they pick up in the process.

Re: Moths are more efficient pollinators than bees: new research

#66

Post by rob74 »

yellowapple wrote: post #54
mythrwy wrote: post #51

The article states moths are more efficient pollinators _at night_. But many types flowers close at night (tulips and hibiscus for instance). So presumably moths don't pollinate those and we still need daytime pollinators.

Relatedly, the article states that more than 80% of pollination happens during the day. I reckon that'd probably be higher if we hadn't been so hellbent on decimating daytime pollinator populations.

Well, we are also hellbent on decimating nighttime pollinators (probably even more than daytime), as well as most other types of insects (except maybe cockroaches).

Re: Moths are more efficient pollinators than bees: new research

#67

Post by rob74 »

coding123 wrote: post #55

And check out the bee-fly too: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/bee-flies-cute-bee-mimic-with... Lots of pollinators out there.

To me, the most fascinating pollinator is the hummingbird hawk-moth (which, interestingly enough, is a daytime pollinator): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hummingbird_hawk-moth. There's not a lot of similarity in photos, but if you see one, its sound and the way it hovers around flowers is just like a miniature hummingbird.

Re: Moths are more efficient pollinators than bees: new research

#68

Post by rob74 »

64operator wrote: post #53
ianburrell wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t forget about hummingbirds. In the Americas, a lot of the pollinating job of moths is done by hummingbirds. Hummingbirds in the day, moths at night. My impression is that bees and moths/hummingbirds mostly work on different kinds of flowers that are evolved for the size and mouths of pollinators,

As a gardener I have noticed that most types of insects tend to visit as many flowers as possible. None seem to show a vast preference. I know that's not what the data shows but it's my experience.

I guess most flowers that people will put into their garden are those pollinated by, let's call them "bee-like pollinators", that are attracted to sweet-smelling and/or colorful flowers (although some, like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddleja_davidii, have a preference for butterflies) . For instance, if you would plant one of these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphophallus_titanum (that are pollinated by flies and carrion-eating beetles, and smell really yummy to them, but less so to us humans), your neighbors would probably complain...

Re: Moths are more efficient pollinators than bees: new research

#69

Post by once_inc »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #27

The huge difference between moths and butterflies is surprising as I consider moths nocturnal butterflies. I wonder what causes the difference.

If, when in doubt, you assume butterfly unless they have poofy antennae, you'd probably be correct 9 out of 10 times.

Re: Moths are more efficient pollinators than bees: new research

#70

Post by sitkack »

peanutz454 wrote: post #61
soperj wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mosquitoes are pollinators, only the females suck blood, and that's only to produce eggs.

Wow! Learned something new today. I've been misinformed into believe that mosquitoes are useless, and we should wipe them out.

They also move nutrients down the food chain. The larvae and the mosquitoes they produce feed lots of birds and other insects.
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