NATIVE flies, not bees, have come out as one of the top pollinators of mango trees according to a new study by a University of New England researcher.
“We found that native flies visited 20 per cent more frequently than bees and they were among the top transporters of pollen,” Dr Rader said.
The study found that 44 different insects visited the flowers during the survey, the twelve most frequent visitors included two bee species, nine flies and one beetle.
“Of all the flies, the small black tip fly (Rhiniidae) visited with the highest frequency, and beetles accounted for less than 4pc of all visits,” she said.
Dr Rader said the research also looked at how much pollen each insect transferred in a single flower visit.
“In terms of the amount of pollen transferred to a single mango flower, the native bee and several flies performed better than the honeybee. The native bee transferred on average about seven pollen grains per visit, the honey bee 2.7 pollen grains. The blue blowfly about 6.8 pollen grains.”
Dr Rader said if growers want to attract and keep these pollinators they need to give them the resources needed to see out their life cycle.
“This may include planting native plants close to your orchard that produce lots of nectar and pollen at times when the mango tree isn’t in flower.”
Dr Rader now hopes to expand her work to include pollen viability and how yield differs when pollen is transferred by different insects.
