Nocturnal vs. diurnal pollination of self-fertile peaches and muscadine grapes
Nocturnal pollination in self-fertile fruits
Abstract
There is growing evidence that nocturnal moths are important pollinators of agricultural crops. However, the contribution of these pollinators to the production of crops remains largely unknown. We explored the pollination input nocturnal insects provide to self-fertile varieties of peaches and muscadine grapes. Our goal was to determine if these fruit varieties need little or no input from insect pollinators, as previously believed, or if pollination is provided by the oft-ignored nocturnal-insect pollinators. Moths were anecdotally observed to be the dominant floral visitor in peaches, diurnal or nocturnal. No floral visitors were recorded in muscadine grapes. We found that the fruit set of self-fertile varieties of both fruits was not significantly increased by any pollinator group, suggesting that pollination contribution provided by insects was unnecessary. Interestingly, we observed both common moth visitors to consistently vibrate their wings during floral visits. This behavior is known to increase body temperature in moths for flight, but this is the first time the vibration behavior has been associated with floral visitation. While the examined fruit varieties received no benefit from insect pollination, important observations highlight our lack of understanding concerning nocturnal pollination and require focused research to elucidate.
Sumario
Cada vez hay más pruebas de que las polillas nocturnas son importantes polinizadores de cultivos agrícolas. Sin embargo, la contribución de estos polinizadores a la producción de cultivos sigue siendo en gran medida desconocida. Exploramos la entrada de polinización que proporcionan los insectos nocturnos a variedades autofértiles de duraznos y uvas muscadinas. Nuestro objetivo fue determinar si estas variedades de fruta necesitan poco o ningún aporte de los polinizadores de insectos a como se creía anteriormente, o si la polinización es proporcionada por los polinizadores nocturnos de insectos que a menudo son ignorados. Se observaron las polillas anecdóticamente como el visitante floral dominante de los melocotones, diurnos o nocturnos. No se registraron visitantes florales en uvas muscadinas. Descubrimos que ningún grupo de polinizadores aumentó significativamente el conjunto de frutas de variedades autofértiles de ambas frutas, lo que sugiere que la contribución a la polinización proporcionada por los insectos era innecesaria. Curiosamente, observamos que los visitantes de las polillas comunes vibran constantemente sus alas durante las visitas florales. Se sabe que este comportamiento aumenta la temperatura corporal en las polillas para el vuelo, pero esta es la primera vez que el comportamiento de vibración se ha asociado con las visitas florales. Si bien las variedades de fruta examinadas no recibieron ningún beneficio de la polinización de insectos, las observaciones fueron importantes en resaltar nuestra falta de comprensión sobre la polinización nocturna y la necesidad de una investigación enfocada para dilucidar su impacto.
Key Words: nocturnal pollinators; moths; pollination; peaches; muscadines
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