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Bees aren't the only or the best pollinators.
According to a large multinational team of scientists led by University of New England researcher Dr Romina Rader, non-bee insects – flies, beetles, moths, butterflies, wasps, and ants – are efficient pollinators providing 39 percent of visits to crop flowers.
The non-bees aren't as efficient at pollination as the bees, perhaps due to the sheer amount of pollen that bees carry around, but it turns out non-bees make more visits to flowers, which can compensate for carrying less pollen.
Dr Rader said “non-bee insect pollinators had other advantages. Fruit set in crops increased with non-bee insect visits [sciencemag.org], independently of bee visitation rates, indicating that non-bee insects provide a unique benefit not provided by bees.”
Reported Here. [sci-news.com]
