
Moths have 'secret role' as crucial pollinators - open-source-ux
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52630991
======
duxup
Nova had an interesting show where they addressed 'keystone species' where a
number of unexpected results could come from a single species absence or
decline.

It started with what we might think of as traditional predators that feed on
other species to keep them from getting out of control. Bass in a river would
keep minnows from devouring all the plants.

But it went even farther than that where a traditional large predator's
absence might lead to an ant population getting out of control and changing
the growth (or lack of it) of an ecosystem.

Other situations where even just predators not scaring deer enough to keep
them moving would result in forests floors being cleared out by deer and
changing what trees grew and and eradication of entire plant species in an
ecosystem and such. You wouldn't notice it at first but later on the results
can be dramatic.

I suspect what we think the results of what a moth does, or any given animal
might be quite a bit different than we expect.

[https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/the-serengeti-
rules-41dfru/2...](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/the-serengeti-
rules-41dfru/20105/)

~~~
im3w1l
Those are interesting thought experiments, but how do we really know it would
play out like? Species that aren't predated will keep their own numbers down
through fighting afaik.

~~~
empath75
Not remotely true:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbits_in_Australia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbits_in_Australia)

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mikorym
As far as I know, this is not very secret, but not fully studied either.

There are various kinds of flying insects other than bees that are key
pollinators.

In avocados I believe there is still quite a bit of research to do about A
type and B type flowers and pollinator insects. The current knowledge is that
the flower opens as type A and then closes and reopens later as type B. The
one type pollinates the other type. Some varieties will have type B during the
day, allowing immediate cross polination between that tree and the other
variety with the type A open at that time.

Now, the part where I say research is lacking: As general advice in farming
circles, people currently tend to use a B type cross pollinator (a second
cultivar in about 1/20 trees) for a A type tree. However, there are cases of
monocultivar orchards with very high yields that don't have the cross
pollinators. So, if the tree opens at night as type B, it means there is
something that is active at night that pollinates the trees (I'll give you a
hint, bees sleep at night)...

I've tried to summarise something that is a bit more complicated, so I hope it
makes sense. Another thing you'll point out is that the insect that's active
at night would also need to be active during the day if it's pollinating with
pollen from earlier the same day. Otherwise you'll still need some access to a
type A flower at night. In any case, my main point is that studying the night
phase of the flowers is something that I don't know a lot of farmers are
doing. For example, it's common to use bee hives for better pollination, and
that presupposes that the farmer is not particularly aiming for night time
pollination.

~~~
simpleEdit
Silly nitpick: I just checked the terminology, and the correct way is to say
type A female and type A male; and then to say type B female and type B male.
So, that means that male pollen still pollinates female, but rather your
variety is type A or type B. Sorry for that error in the explanation.

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s_dev
Is this new?

Am I reading this right. Moths are as or more important than Bees as
pollinators?

>The study says that the moths' transport networks are larger and more complex
than those of daytime pollinators like bees.

~~~
yareally
Bees (other than bumble bees) are not native to North or South America. I
would guess that bumble bees, moths, hummingbirds and butterflies did most of
the pollination before Europeans Arrived.

There are even moths that mimic hummingbirds[1]. First time I saw one, I
thought it was a hummingbird.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemaris](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemaris)

EDIT: I meant European Honeybees, but still news to me that sweat bees and the
like are considered bees as well. Interesting.

~~~
spqr0a1
There are thousands of native bee species in the Americas beyond bumblebees.
Including sweat bees, stingless bees, orchid bee, and carpenter bees.

[https://bugguide.net/node/view/475348](https://bugguide.net/node/view/475348)

~~~
hinkley
And there are hundreds of species of just bumblebees. And mason bees

Hoverflies were the big surprise for me. They employ mimicry to be mistaken
for bees (or occasionally hornets), but they are also important pollinators.

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ldayley
An orchid species exists that has a 25-25 cm long flower spur (the comet
orchid), and 19th century botanists were puzzled as to how it could be
pollinated in the wild. Darwin speculated that an insect with a long proboscis
would be found to exist and researchers soon discovered the Sphinx Moth. [0]

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angraecum_sesquipedale#Reprodu...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angraecum_sesquipedale#Reproduction)

------
m463
Moths also have "sonar jamming capabilities" to evade predators.

(from Steve Blanks' secret history of silicon valley)

[https://steveblank.com/2009/03/23/if-i-told-
you-i%E2%80%99d-...](https://steveblank.com/2009/03/23/if-i-told-
you-i%E2%80%99d-have-to-kill-you-the-story-behind-the-secret-history-of-
silicon-valley/)

------
autokad
of course, lots of insects pollinate, including mosquitos.

It reminds me of when someone said if the honey bees die, all plants will die.
and I was like ... you realize that honey bees came to north America with the
European settlers right? and they were like ok? They still didnt get it.

Not wanting the death of honeybees, but here are other pollinators out there.

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ohiovr
I visited south east Ohio last weekend to a house in the country. There were
no mayflys, mosquitos, moths, crickets, grasshoppers, butterflys, ants, bees.
Nothing. I could hear some chickadees but not many other bird songs. It has
been unseasonably cold in may this year in Ohio.

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pvaldes
A lot of animals are secret pollinators...

~~~
soperj
Yep. Mosquitoes for instance.

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aarondf
Not so secret anymore!

