The biologists from Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Canada discovered a fly, which is pollinating the plants in Arctic. The research project about a common plant in the far north called resulted in the discovering the insect Dryas octopetalan, the eight-petal mountain avens.
The biologists found out a species, which is extremely important for the Arctic’s biodiversity. The scientific project revealed a fly, which is a super pollinator in the Arctic. The researchers were investigating which insects visited the mountain avens at 15 sites in northeast Greenland. Then they returned to see how many seeds these plants had at each spot.
According to results of the project, a total of 117 different insect species have been visited the mountain avens in the research zones. “Thus, mountain avens is very for the Arctic ecosystem,” says professor of entomology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
“Given how many different kinds of insects are visiting these flowers, it is even more surprising that a single species is so important for helping the avens produce seeds,” says professor Roslin.
The researchers are concerned about quantities of Arctic’s flies, their population is are diminishing as the Arctic warms up. As Roslin explains:
“This is very disturbing. The mountain avens is blooming earlier in an increasingly warm Arctic. But the insects don’t seem to be capable of adapting to this development.”
