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Spying on the nocturnal visits of moths to plants has exposed the insects鈥� overlooked role in pollination.

Using 15 time-lapse cameras, at Aarhus University in Denmark and his colleagues have recorded what happens in a meadow in the Swiss Alps, 24 hours a day, over a whole summer. The team has found that moths account for 34 per cent of visits to red clover (Trifolium pratense), a wild flower that is a valuable forage crop for animals and has an important role in improving soil nutrients and structure.

The large yellow underwing (Noctua pronuba) was the moth primarily responsible for the flower visits. However, in over a century of research into red clover pollination, no mention of this contribution has previously been made.

Most studies looking at plants and insect pollinators have focused on a small number of bee species, meaning observation has almost exclusively taken place during the day.

Alison鈥檚 team found that bumblebees made 61 per cent of flower visits 鈥� but dissection of the plants鈥� fruiting bodies, sampled without prior knowledge of insect visitation, and cross-checking them with camera footage, showed that those visited by bumblebees and moths, or moths alone, had 11.6 per cent more seeds set than those without. No significant difference was seen for those only visited by bumblebees.

鈥淭his is just one plant species, but it鈥檚 been the subject of so much research. We think we are the first to carefully record red clover at night, and we see moth visitation. I鈥檇 wager that moths are thanklessly pollinating hundreds of less famous flower species across Europe,鈥� says Alison.

The 24-hour camera observations and seed-set analysis build on a previous study that to look at their possible contribution to pollination of wild flowers on farmland.

鈥淕reat work has been done to highlight the sheer amount and variety of pollen carried on moth鈥檚 tongues and bodies,鈥� says Alison. 鈥淗owever, I do think that technology has put us in a position where we can easily catch moths red-handed during pollination 鈥� if only we make the effort to do so. And we haven鈥檛 made the effort for the vast majority of plant species.鈥�

鈥淎s someone who has used camera monitoring in my own research, I think it is a very beneficial tool that helps to supplement other more 鈥榯raditional鈥� methods,鈥� says at University College London. 鈥淭his will allow people to set up the equipment to focus on specific plants or larger plant patches and leave the location to allow natural interaction between plants and pollinators to happen,鈥� he says.

Harmless moth traps using cameras linked to artificial intelligence-based identification are being developed, says Alison, which should further improve knowledge of nocturnal moth activities.

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