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. 2022 Feb 17;12(1):2716.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-06635-4.

Settling moths are the vital component of pollination in Himalayan ecosystem of North-East India, pollen transfer network approach revealed

Navneet Singh  1 , Rajesh Lenka  2   3 , Pallab Chatterjee  2 , Dipayan Mitra  2
Affiliations

Settling moths are the vital component of pollination in Himalayan ecosystem of North-East India, pollen transfer network approach revealed

Navneet Singh et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Majority of the pollination related studies are based on the diurnal pollinators, and the nocturnal pollinators received less scientific attention. We reveal the significance of settling moths in pollination of angiosperm families in Himalayan ecosystem of North-East India. The refined and novel method of pollen extraction from the proboscides provides a more robust assessment of the pollen carrying capacity. The study is based on one of the largest data sets (140 pollen transporter moth species (PTMS)), with interpretation based on seasonal as well as altitudinal data. In the present study about 65% moths (91 species) carried sufficient quantities of pollen grains to be considered as potential pollinators (PPMS). Teliphasa sp. (Crambidae) and Cuculia sp. (Noctuidae) are found to carry the highest quantity of pollen. We found pollen grains of 21 plant families and the abundant pollen are from Betulaceae, Fabaceae, Rosaceae and Ericaceae. Species composition of PTMS and PPMS in pre-monsoon, monsoon, and post-monsoon revealed the dominance of Geometridae. Maximum diversity of PTMS and PPMS is found from 2000 to 2500 m altitude. The nocturnal pollen transfer network matrices exhibited high degree of selectivity (H2' = 0.86).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pie-chart of ten major plant families and their pollen load percentage found on proboscides of PTMS.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Family-wise species composition of PTMS and PPMS.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Season-wise species composition of PTMS.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Circos plot to visualise the interaction of moth families with the plant families (based upon supplementary file 2).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Consolidated settling moth-plant pollen transfer network (width of higher-level boxes indicates number of pollen grain carried by moths whereas width of lower level boxes indicate total pollen grain of a plant family transported).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Seasonal and altitudinal wise settling moth-plant pollen transfer network (dominating plant families and moth families are coloured).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Localities sampled in this study (ArcGIS version 10.5, URL: https://www.arcgis.com/index.html).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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