Moths are an overlooked Pollinator

University College London (UCL), 12th May 2020 - Moths are important pollen transporters in English farmlands and play a significant role in the maintenance of crop yields. Although they may not receive as much media coverage as daytime pollinators but research led by (UCL) showed that nocturnal moths have a larger, more complex pollination network and will often compliment the pollination done by the daytime pollinators. Moths will commonly visit the same flowers already visited and will visit flowers that hasn't been pollinated during the day. They serve as a form of back-up for biodiversity, which in turn supports crop yields.

Lead author, Dr Richard Walton (UCL Geography researcher) had stated that moths have a vital, yet often overlooked pollinators which play vital ecological functions being responsible to a certain degree of floral diversity and abundance. He also makes a bold statement that many species including bats, mammals, birds etc would be put under significant pressure without the moth. 

Moths uniquely pollen with their chest instead of their tongue optimizing the volume of pollen being transported. This essentially means more pollen from a single interaction will be introduced to higher numbers of flower individuals. While feeding, the moth's distinctly hairy body comes into contact with the male floral reproductive parts where higher quantities of pollen will attach to these hairs.  

While investigating the importance of moths, they monitored ponds in agricultural regions in Norfolk where it was noted that 45% of the moths were transporting pollen derived from 47 different floral species. Moths are seen as generalists where they can pollinate/ feed on a wide range of floral species, meanwhile, bumble/ honeybees will target the most prolific nectar and pollen sources.

This study has come at a pivotal period in our climate crisis as moths are suffering from serious decline with a 28% decline in the UK since 1968. Interstingly, the southern portion of England have suffered from a 40% reduction, meanwhile, the northern proportion has displayed no significant decline. This is likely to be due to the higher abundance of urban centers along the south. Street lights have had detrimental effects on nocturnal species which confuses them on when to feed. Some individuals may feed during the day time where they're out competed by diurnal species. Chemical pesticides are also responsible where they reduce floral diversity and will often be toxic to moths when consumed.

Dr Walton (UCL Geography) concluded: “While bumblebees and honeybees are known to be super pollinators they also preferentially target the most prolific nectar and pollen sources.

“Moths may appear to be less effective pollinators by comparison, but their high diversity and abundance may make them critical to pollination in ways that we still need to understand. Our research sheds light on a little known world of nocturnal plant-insect interactions that might be vital to the look and smell of our precious countryside and to the crops that we grow.”

 

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• Walton, R., 2020. Moths Have A Secret But Vital Role As Pollinators In The Night. [online] UCL News. Available at: <https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/may/moths-have-secret-vital-role-pollinators-night> [Accessed 8 August 2020].
• Butterfly-conservation.org. 2020. The State Of Britain's Moths. [online] Available at: <https://butterfly-conservation.org/moths/the-state-of-britains-moths> [Accessed 8 August 2020].

 

Why Ancient Woodlands are so valuable?

Ancient woodlands are wooded areas that have been covered in the same native woodland cover since 1600 AD. These habitats are irreplaceable due to the many years of the native fauna  to evolve to the composition of these habitats to take full advantage of the many niches up for offer. 

These habitats compose of just 2% of the UK's landscape and so provide a unique habitat which provide the UK with photogenically rare fauna that are severely vulnerable to any disturbances and so the niches that don't overlap between the generalists will die along with the species. 

Half of all of the UK ancient woodlands, are severely degraded and in serious need of restoration. Instead, much of these forests are being replaced with non-native conifer plantations with little differentiation between species variation. These plantation pose little ecological benefit where it is shown these transformations reduces biodiversity in the native bird, reptile, and mammal species where the rare species are the most vulnerable due to their incapability to adapt and take up new niches. 

Although, restoration won't be capable of completely restoring the conservation value of the fully intact ancient woodland, if serious degradation/ destruction has occurred restoration is the best to do to mitigate the carbon emission and to provide a form of support for the surrounding biodiversity. These restoration programmes display varying results with the common denominator being the planting of photogenically distinct native flora to provide adequate supports for rare species as well as improving the multifunctionality of the woodland.