While you're inside binge-watching Netflix, there's an entire crew of pollinators working the night shift in your garden. This week, we uncover the conspiracy you sleep through every single night - and why moths are secretly better at their jobs than butterflies will ever be. Spoiler alert: your evening dog walks are about to get a LOT more interesting. Grab a red flashlight and prepare to meet the pollinator workforce that punches in when the sun goes down!

www.secretpollinators.com

KEY SOURCES

Moths as nocturnal pollinators

• Macgregor, C. J., Pocock, M. J. O., Fox, R., & Evans, D. M. (2015). Pollination by nocturnal Lepidoptera, and the effects of light pollution: a review. Ecological Entomology, 40(3), 187–198. DOI: 10.1111/een.12174 — moths are the major nocturnal pollinators of flowers, and their contribution has been under-appreciated; field studies of plant–pollinator interactions almost always take place in daylight because surveying in the dark is difficult.
• Hahn, M., & Brühl, C. A. (2016). The secret pollinators: an overview of moth pollination with a focus on Europe and North America. Arthropod-Plant Interactions, 10, 21–28.
• Devoto, M., Bailey, S., & Memmott, J. (2011). The 'night shift': nocturnal pollen-transport networks in a boreal pine forest. Ecological Entomology, 36(1), 25–35. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2311.2010.01247.x
• Banza, P., Belo, A. D. F., & Evans, D. M. (2015). The structure and robustness of nocturnal Lepidopteran pollen-transfer networks in a Biodiversity Hotspot. Insect Conservation and Diversity, 8, 538–546. DOI: 10.1111/icad.12134
• Walton, R. E., Sayer, C. D., Bennion, H., & Axmacher, J. C. (2020). Nocturnal pollinators strongly contribute to pollen transport of wild flowers in an agricultural landscape. Biology Letters, 16(5): 20190877.
• Atwater, M. M., Miller, J. Y., & Daniels, J. C. Moth-pollination through the looking glass: structure of a flower-settling moth network reveals functional groups.

Light pollution

• Knop, E., Zoller, L., Ryser, R., Gerpe, C., Hörler, M., & Fontaine, C. (2017). Artificial light at night as a new threat to pollination. Nature, 548, 206–209. DOI: 10.1038/nature23288
• Macgregor, C. J., Evans, D. M., Fox, R., & Pocock, M. J. O. (2017). The dark side of street lighting: impacts on moths and evidence for the disruption of nocturnal pollen transport. Global Change Biology, 23(2), 697–707. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13371
• Macgregor, C. J., Pocock, M. J. O., Fox, R., & Evans, D. M. (2019). Effects of street lighting technologies on the success and quality of pollination in a nocturnally pollinated plant. Ecosphere, 10(1), e02550. DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.2550
• van Langevelde, F., et al. (2018). Declines in moth populations stronger in nocturnal than diurnal species. — country-wide Netherlands study.
• van Geffen, K. G., et al. (2014). Artificial light at night and moth reproductive output.

Hawkmoths and long-tongued pollination

• Sponberg, S., Dyhr, J. P., Hall, R. W., & Daniel, T. L. (2015). Luminance-dependent visual processing enables moth flight in low light. Science, 348(6240), 1245–1248. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa3042
• Raguso, R. A., & Willis, M. A. (2002). Synergy between visual and olfactory cues in nectar feeding by naïve hawkmoths, Manduca sexta. Animal Behaviour, 64(5), 685–695.
• Miller, W. E. (1997). Diversity and evolution of tongue length in hawkmoths. Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society, 51(1), 9–31.
• Alexandersson, R., & Johnson, S. D. (2002). Pollinator-mediated selection on flower-tube length in a hawkmoth-pollinated plant.

Night-blooming plants and floral scent

• Raguso, R. A. (2008). Wake up and smell the roses: the ecology and evolution of floral scent. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 39, 549–569. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.38.091206.095601
• Kaiser, R. (2011). Scent of the Vanishing Flora. Wiley-VCH.
• Willmer, P. (2011). Pollination and Floral Ecology. Princeton University Press.

Beetle pollination of ancient lineages

• Thien, L. B., Bernhardt, P., Devall, M. S., et al. (2009). Pollination biology of basal angiosperms (ANITA grade). American Journal of Botany, 96(1), 166–182. DOI: 10.3732/ajb.0800016

Bat pollination

• Fleming, T. H., Geiselman, C., & Kress, W. J. (2009). The evolution of bat pollination: a phylogenetic perspective. Annals of Botany, 104(6), 1017–1043. DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcp197

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