Moths are better than bees new research reveals

While scientists have been worrying about the world’s declining bee population there was another bug they should have been keeping an eye on—the lowly moth. It turns out these fuzzy little nocturnal insects are far more important than we’d previously thought.

A new study from researchers at the University of Sussex found that moths are actually a lot better at pollinating plants at night than bees and other bugs are at pollinating plants during the day. 

According to Tech Explorist, the researchers studied ten sites throughout South East England and discovered that while bees and other daylight bugs pollinated more flowers, moths were actually able to pollinate their flowers faster and with fewer visits. 

“Flower visitation was significantly higher during the day, comprising 83% of all visits made by a range of taxa,” the researchers wrote in the abstract of their paper, adding that nighttime pollination was done almost exclusively by the area's moth populations.

The researchers went on to note that pollination rates were significantly higher at night compared to pollination rates during the day, which lead them to conclude that moths played a more important role in flower pollination than bees and other daylight bugs. 

“No relationship was detected between pollen counts and flower visitation rates, suggesting that moths are more efficient pollinators of bramble compared with diurnal insects,” the researchers concluded. 

While this research may not seem important in the grand scheme of our world, it’s actually a huge discovery that could help us solve our growing worries about how we will manage the pollination of consumption crops in a world with lower bee populations.

In August 2022, CNN’s Allison Chinchar and Jennifer Gray explored how declining bee populations could affect our world in the future. They concluded that at best, the decline in bees could mean we lose some of our favorite foods and at worst it could cause a global collapse. 

Foods like apples, broccoli, and almonds are all at risk of disappearing from our grocery store shelve if bee populations disappear according to the US Drug and Food Administration, and even meat products could decline for lack of animal feed. 

Luckily, this is where the University of Sussex study’s co-author Professor Fiona Matthews says moths can make a big difference. “Bees are undoubtedly important, but our work has shown that moths pollinate flowers faster than day-flying insects.”

“Our work shows that simple steps, such as allowing patches of bramble to flower, can provide important food sources for moths, and we will be rewarded with a crop of blackberries. Everyone’s a winner!” Matthews added in a press release from the Unversity of Sussex.  

Bramble blooms were the main flowers Matthews and her coauthor Dr. Max Anderson focused on in Britain and Anderson echoed his partner’s findings, stating now that we know how effective moths can be as pollinators, we need to start taking steps to support their wild populations. 

“Now we know that moths are also important pollinators, we need to take action to support them by encouraging some bramble and other flowering scrub plants to grow in our parks, gardens, road verges, and hedgerows,” Dr. Anderson said. 

While the researcher's university press release explained how people in Britain could help their moth populations, the information was general enough that it could be equally as helpful regardless of where you live. 

Planting flowers and growing patches of grass and shrubbery can help you support your local moths, and turning off your outdoor lights at night will allow moths to do their thing. 

Unfortunately, much like bees, moth populations are in a state of decline worldwide. In Britain, the number of overall moths has declined by roughly 28% according to Butterfly Conservation, and South England specifically has moth populations decrease of 40%.