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Comment by ianburrell

3 years ago

Don’t forget about hummingbirds. In the Americas, a lot of the pollinating job of moths is done by hummingbirds. Hummingbirds in the day, moths at night.

My impression is that bees and moths/hummingbirds mostly work on different kinds of flowers that are evolved for the size and mouths of pollinators,

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ianburrell

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zabzonk  3 years ago

> Don’t forget about hummingbirds

well, that was kind of my point - there is an entire universe of small creatures, and not so small ones (lemurs, for example), that perform pollination, and we mess with them at our peril.

64operator  3 years ago

As a gardener I have noticed that most types of insects tend to visit as many flowers as possible. None seem to show a vast preference. I know that's not what the data shows but it's my experience.

  • stinos  3 years ago

    None seem to show a vast preference

    That might be some kind of observation effect. Which isn't surprising either: there are various species out there which have a distinct preference for, or even visit only, one specific family of native plants or even just one particular plant. If those plants are already less common to begin with (due to various reasons, unfortunately often human-induced) there's a lot less chance you'll ever get to see the insects which rely on those plants. Just 2 of the many examples for Western Europe which are in decline and becoming hard to find are Andrena hattorfiana haemorrhoidalis and Andrena pandellei. You'd have to be fairly lucky to just see them in your garden, you'd already need to pay attention to now mow the plants they're after at the correct time, if you already have those to begin with. Likewise the more generalist insects who visit a wide range of plants will be much easier to witness.

  • rob74  3 years ago

    I guess most flowers that people will put into their garden are those pollinated by, let's call them "bee-like pollinators", that are attracted to sweet-smelling and/or colorful flowers (although some, like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddleja_davidii, have a preference for butterflies) . For instance, if you would plant one of these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphophallus_titanum (that are pollinated by flies and carrion-eating beetles, and smell really yummy to them, but less so to us humans), your neighbors would probably complain...