The bees are busy this time of year, flitting from flower to flower. It’s easy to think they are the only creatures pollinating our flowers, fruits and vegetables–especially when so many of our native bee populations are endangered. However, they are only one slice of the pollination pie. While we sleep at night, there are other important pollinators that are getting busy and helping us out as they help themselves. One I wanted to highlight this month is the humble moth.
I subscribe to the Nautilus Magazine online newsletter, and one of the recent emails had a fascinating article about moths and their importance in the pollination of plants. According to the article “The Secret Lives of Moths” by Chris Cosma, after analyzing data across the globe, scientists have found that moths and other night pollinators contribute the same amount, if not more, to the success of many of our most essential crops.
It’s easy to demonize moths as sweater eaters and haunters of pantries, but those are only a handful of the hundreds of species of moths around at any given moment. Many moths hover over the same plants as their daylight counterparts do, spreading just as much pollen if not more. By studying their nighttime escapades, scientists have found that moths are just as effective as bees especially at pollinating apples, avocados, berries and gourds.
Like many of our most vulnerable critters, moths are at major risk for extermination as climate change creeps ever forward. Loss of habitat, pesticides, and invasive plant species also affect the lives and pollination of moths. There are some folks that advocate spraying pesticides after dark to minimize human and animal exposure, but what they are neglecting in this practice is the even more vulnerable nocturnal creatures that are active at those times.
How can we help moths, bees and other pollinators in these trying times? I probably sound like a broken record at this point if you have read this column enough, but planting native plants is one easy and major solution. Moths thrive on these staple plants and are able to reproduce and continue their important role in our ecosystem as a result. Another way to help is by limiting the number of artificial lights that you have outside at night. While we obviously do not have dark vision as humans and need lights for safety and security, nocturnal animals such as moths are tricked by the lights and are made vulnerable to predators in a greater number than they would be in total darkness.
If you would like to read the article I reference in this article, you can go to https://nautil.us and search for the article title mentioned above. The entire website is really neat, and you do not need a subscription to read most of the articles. The more we know and learn about the world around us, the higher a chance we have to figure out how to fix what we have done and continue to have a brighter and more bountiful future for all.
