Arthropod-Plant Interactions - Call For Papers: Special Issue - Nocturnal Pollination
Editors: Daichi Funamoto1 and Isabel Alves dos Santos2
1Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Bioresource Development, Tokyo University of Agriculture, 1737, Funako, Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan
email: dai.funamoto@gmail.com (this opens in a new tab)
2Department of Ecology, Instituto de Biociências, University of São Paulo, Brazil
email: isabelha@usp.br (this opens in a new tab)
Female of Ptiloglossa latecalcarata, a crepuscular Diphaglossinae bee (Colletidae) pollinator of cambuci flowers (Campomanesia phaea, Myrtaceae) in Brazil.
Photo: Guaraci Duran Cordeiro.
The nocturnal pollination system has been less studied than diurnal pollination, since the observations and usual experiments on the reproductive biology of a plant are tricky in the dark. But in the last decades nocturnal pollinators have received more attention, especially the systems of plants pollinated by moths, beetles, flies and dim-light bees (Funamoto & Ohashi 2017; Cordeiro et al. 2018; MacGregor & Scott Brown 2020; Buxton et al. 2022; Etl et al. 2022; Warrant & Somanathan 2022). Additionally, many studies have shown that plants with long-lasting anthesis (more than 12 hours or even few days) present mixed pollination systems, where diurnal and nocturnal visitors may participate (Fleming & Holland 1998; Knop et al 2018; Siqueira et al. 2018; Alisson et al. 2022; Fijen et al. 2023). Thus, nocturnal pollen disperses may act as primary, secondary, or as co-pollinators with diurnal agents of these plants.
Some authors have treated the nocturnal pollination service as secret, highlighting its vulnerability and fragility in the face of threats like light pollution, and for being poorly known (MacGregor & Scott Brown 2020; Buxton et al. 2022). These less well-studied pollinator groups, the insects that forage on flowers at night, are neglected in current diurnal-oriented research (Requier et al. 2022). However, it has been increasingly demonstrated that nocturnal insect pollinators visit a large range of crop plants and may be more important to ecosystem function and food production than what currently is thought. Given the scarcity of studies on nocturnal pollination by insects compared to diurnal systems, several questions remain open regarding the nature of this secret interaction taking place at night (in the dark). Therefore, for this special issue we would like to invite colleagues who are studying pollination by nocturnal insects to contribute with original results and reviews on this interaction. We hope to demonstrate the richness of this little-studied system, and encourage new findings.
Important Submission Information:
To submit a manuscript for this Special Issue, authors should follow the steps below:
- Authors submit their papers through the following website: https://www.editorialmanager.com/apis/default/2.aspx (this opens in a new tab)
- Under “Additional Information” authors must select “Yes” to their manuscript being submitted to a Thematic Series, then choose “SI: Nocturnal Pollination”
Submission Deadline:
31st August, 2024
References:
Alison J. et al. 2022. Moths complement bumblebee pollination of red clover: a case for day-and-night insect surveillance. Biol. Lett. 18
Buxton M. et al. 2022. A global review demonstrating the importance of nocturnal pollinators for crop plants. J. Appl. Ecol. 59: 2890-2901
Cordeiro, G.D. et al. 2016. Pollination of Campomanesia phaea (Myrtaceae) by night-active bees: a new nocturnal pollination system mediated by floral scent. Plant Biology 19: 132-139. doi:10.1111/plb.12520
Etl, F. et al. 2022. Chemical attraction of gall midge pollinators (Cecidomyiidae: Cecidomyiinae) to Anthurium acutangulum (Araceae). Journal of Chemical Ecology, 48: 263-269.
Fijen et al. 2023. Nocturnal pollination is equally important as, and complementary to, diurnal pollination for strawberry fruit production. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 350. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2023.108475 (this opens in a new tab).
Funamoto, D. & Ohashi, K. 2017. Hidden floral adaptation to nocturnal moths in an apparently bee-pollinated flower, Adenophora triphylla var. japonica (Campanulaceae). Plant Biology 19(5) : 767-774.
Knop et al. 2018. Rush hours in flower visitors over a day-night cycle. Insect Conserv. Diversity 11: 267-275
Macgregor & Scott-Brown 2020. Nocturnal pollination: an overlooked ecosystem service vulnerable to environmental change. Emerg. Top. Life Sci. 4: 19-32
Requier F. et al. 2022. Bee and non-bee pollinator importance for local food security. Trends Ecol. Evol. 3068
Siqueira, E. et al. 2018. Pollination of Machaerium opacum (Fabaceae) by nocturnal and diurnal bees. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 12 (5): 633-645. DOI: 10.1007/s11829-018-9623-z.
Warrant E. & Somanathan H. 2022. Colour vision in nocturnal insects. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 377: issue 1862.