Bees get the glory, but moths are also key pollinators, study says

Bees get the glory, but moths are also key pollinators, study says
A hummingbird hawk-moth feeds on a flower's nectar. Scientists say moths play a larger role in pollination than once thought. (iStock)
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Modern gardeners often plant bee-friendly flowers in a bid to attract the pollinators and ensure their long-term survival. But recent research on moths’ role in plant pollination suggests the less-heralded insects are just as important as bees — and hints it might be time to give them the respect they deserve.
Published in the journal Ecology Letters, the study looked at moths and bees in community gardens in Leeds, England, during the 2019 growing season. Bees and moths were collected during May, June and September. Researchers removed pollen from the insects using DNA sequencing to determine what kinds of pollen stuck to the moths and bees during their flights.
Their analysis revealed that the creatures visit different types of plants. While bees were most drawn to brassica crops like cabbage, maple trees and brambling plants, moths visited most often nightshade plants like tomatoes and potatoes, butterfly bushes and linden trees.
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They also play a larger role in pollination than once thought: The researchers discovered that moths are involved in the pollination of redcurrants, strawberries and stone fruit, preferences they say were not previously known to be moth-pollinated. The moths carried more diverse pollen than the bees during the midsummer, accounting for a third of all plant-pollinator visits studied.
“People don’t generally appreciate moths so they can often be overlooked compared to bees when talking about protection and conservation,” said Emilie Ellis, a University of Helsinki doctoral researcher who was a co-author on the paper while working at the University of Sheffield’s Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures, in a news release.
“It’s becoming apparent that there needs to be a much more focused effort to raise awareness of the important role moths play in establishing healthy environments, especially as we know moth populations have drastically declined over the past 50 years,” Ellis said.
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That population loss could present a “significant and previously unacknowledged threat” to pollination of both wild and crop plants, the researchers noted. They said conservation efforts should target both bees and moths and take into consideration that moths seem to prefer wild plants.
These “important, but overlooked” insects may be more sensitive to urbanization than bees, the researchers said — all the more reason to include them in conservation plans.