Butterflies and moths collect so much static electricity whilst in flight, that pollen grains from flowers can be pulled by static electricity across air gaps of several millimeters or centimeters.
Butterflies and moths collect so much static electricity whilst in flight, that pollen grains from flowers can be pulled by static electricity across air gaps of several millimetres or centimetres.
Their study involved 269 butterflies and moths across 11 different species, native to five different continents and inhabiting multiple different ecological niches. They were then then able to compare between them and see if these ecological factors correlated with their charge, establishing if static charging is a trait that evolution can act upon.
In terms of practical applications, this study opens the door to the possibility for technologies to artificially increase the electrostatic charges or pollinators or pollen, in order to improve pollination rates in natural and agricultural settings. "For me personally, I would love to do a wider survey of as many different species of animal as possible, see how much static electricity they accumulate, and then look for any correlations with their ecology and lifestyle. Then we can really begin to understand how evolution and static electricity interact!"The Greenland ice sheet lies thousands of miles from North America yet holds clues to the distant continent's environmental history.
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