As of: February 20, 2024, 7:30 p.m
By: Ines Alms
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According to a study, polluted air prevents moths from flying to flowers.
There are two methods you can use to attract butterflies into the garden and onto the balcony.
People are happy when they smell a fragrant flower.
Insects also perceive flowers, i.e. pollen and nectar, through scents.
A research team in the USA has now found that air pollution from exhaust fumes hinders the ability of moths to find flowers and therefore food.
The scientists suspect that air pollutants could have a decisive influence on pollination and harvesting.
To maintain the ecological balance, balcony and garden owners can also make a small contribution.
Exhaust fumes in cities reduce the distance over which butterflies can smell
Perennial phlox attracts both diurnal butterflies and nocturnal moths such as the spurge moth (Hyles euphorbiae).
© blickwinkel/Imago
The researchers from the University of Washington reported on the study in the journal “Science” and showed that air pollutants such as ozone and nitrate radicals (NO3) quickly break down certain fragrances in flowers.
In particular, the nitrate radicals that predominate at night had a major impact by breaking down certain compounds that underlie enticing floral scents.
According to a report by the German Press Agency, so-called monoterpenes, which are particularly attractive to butterflies, are particularly affected.
As a result, the flowers, in the case of the study white evening primrose, are hardly or no longer noticeable to the nocturnal butterflies: the number of flower visits by moths fell by around 70 percent.
But evening primroses need insects to be pollinated.
Because fewer butterflies came, the plants produced fewer seeds.
As a result, the plants' fruit production was reduced by around 30 percent.
The research team also showed that atmospheric ozone and nitrate radical pollution in many urban and peri-urban areas is sufficient to significantly reduce the distances over which pollinators can detect flowers.
You can find even more exciting garden topics in the regular newsletter from our partner 24garten.de.
Attract moths with bait and flowers
As the
German Association for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND)
explains, there are many more species of moths than butterflies in Germany, namely over 3,300 species of moths and therefore more than 95 percent of the native butterfly species.
Although they are predominantly active at night or at dusk and are therefore almost invisible to humans, they, like bees and other insects, make a major contribution to pollination and thus the reproduction of plants.
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Many moths feed on rotting fruit, but there are also plants that only open their flowers to insects at dusk and exude a tempting scent.
You can take advantage of this knowledge and lure the butterflies into the garden or onto the balcony:
A bait attracts the butterflies so that you can observe them well: You make a puree from pears or apples, honey or sugar and beer, to which you add a little yeast, fruit schnapps or red wine.
Ideally, this mixture should be left to stand in a tightly closed container for several weeks until it begins to ferment.
You then spread the fruit bait in places protected from the wind like a tree and you can look for the butterflies at night.
Grow plants in your garden that provide food for nocturnal insects and thus increase the supply for the animals.
These include evening primrose, perennial phlox, night violet, moon glories, evening levkoje or honeysuckle - but there are many more species.