Underrated Pollinators

Yes, bees, hummingbirds and butterflies are pollinators but did you know that moths, bats, flies and beetles are, too? How about mosquitos?

At least 75% of all flowering plants, including the food we eat, need another species to bring pollen from the male part of the flower to the female part to make seeds. Flowers entice these pollinators to do so by offering their sugary nectar for food.

Bees do a lot of the heavy lifting for this massive effort but they aren’t alone. Mosquitos also frequent flowers for their nectar and, as a byproduct, pollinate the flowers. We normally don’t see this happen because mosquitos are active at night.

Out of the thousands of diverse mosquito species, only around a hundred feed on humans. And that’s just the females! Blood-sucking female mosquitoes need extra protein to make eggs. They can locate a blood meal from more than 100 feet away by detecting molecules in human sweat, carbon dioxide from the breath, as well as body heat.

Mosquito research focuses mostly on those that feed on humans because they can spread deadly diseases. We know very little about the other types of friendly mosquitos that exist today.

If certain species of mosquitoes have such a large impact on humans, imagine the impact they could have on other living things in their environment. Mosquitoes could be just as important as bees and butterflies in keeping this park full of life.