Chicago Botanic Garden Summer 2019

Moths have a champion in Krissa Skogen Krissa Skogen, Ph.D., has a poster of the Coen brothers’ movie Fargo hanging on a wall in her office. She grew up in the frigid North Dakota city where the film is set, and years before pursuing a scientific career that has returned her, time and again, to the great outdoors for fieldwork, she spent the warmer months at a nearby lakefront property. That’s where she became enamored with the natural world. Now the Chi- cago Botanic Garden con- servation sci- entist keeps a pillbox jar with the pale- winged body of a pesky M o m p h a moth on her desk. And somewhat analogous to Frances Mc- Dormand’s character in the lm, she is unapologetically outspoken, particu- larly for expanding public awareness and scienti c understanding of a lesser understood pollinator group: moths. “People tend to think of them ying in porch lights in the summer; they’re these brown, scrappy, uttering things with spastic behavior,” Dr. Skogen says. “ at’s unfortunate because they are so important. So many plant families rely on moths for pollination. But because they are nocturnal foragers, active at night, the general public isn’t aware of their diversity or importance.” Skogen has devoted her research to un- derstanding and protecting this misun- derstood pollinator. ere are approxi- mately 160,000 described species of moths, more than ten times that of their better known relatives—butter- ies. ough moths are arguably less contribute to this diversity, is so impor- tant. It can help pinpoint which polli- nators and plants are most at risk and prioritize these for conservation. Skogen and researchers at the Garden and seven North American partner in- stitutions are at the forefront of this work. As part of a six-year study fund- ed by the National Science Founda- tion, the scientists are revisiting Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection to examine the role of oral scent in at- tracting pollinators and seed predators to plants in the species-rich evening primrose family (Onagraceae). “ e going notion has been there are so many di erent kinds of owers because of pollinators,” she says. “Pollinators drive diversity through selecting for plant characteristics that allow them to locate and acquire the resources they need—most commonly food, or nectar and pollen.” But their early results are complicating that picture. Much of the focus has been directed at linalool, a volatile chemical compound released from the petals of the evening primrose that pro- duces an aroma Skogen compares to the scent of Froot Loops cereal. e sugary scent attracts friendly pollina- tors, including bee species and the white-lined sphynx moth (Hyles linea- ta) , a large, hummingbird-like hawk- moth that is important to the repro- charismatic than butter ies, they per- form a role just as crucial to plant re- production and ecosystem stability. “ ey drink nectar. ey move pollen. ey lay eggs on host plants for cater- pillars to eat. ey do all the things butter ies do, just under cover of dark- ness,” Skogen says. And much like native bees and mon- arch butter ies, their populations are in sharp decline in many parts of the globe. Studies show signi cant loss in moth abundance and diversity in Euro- pean countries (one 2006 review in the journal Biologic Conservation showed a 31 percent decrease in abundance be- tween 1968 and 2002 in Great Britain) and suggest climate change, habitat degradation, and arti cial night light- ing are to blame. e consequences of declining pollina- tor populations could be dire. “If we were to lose all pollinators tomorrow, it would take a little while, but things that require pollinator movement for reproduction would go extinct. We’d be left with plants that self-seed or are wind-pollinated, like grasses and oaks. ere would be a lot less biodiversity,” Skogen says. at’s why understanding genetic vari- ation within and among pollinator and plant species, and the environmental and geographic dispersal factors that 26 chicagobotanic.org