From Stream to Bloom: Exploring the Potential Role of Aquatic Insects for Pollination in Wetland Environments

Abstract

The substantial loss of insects we are experiencing today has been highlighted all over the world. There is a growing concern about the global decline of pollinators and its impact on terrestrial and agricultural ecosystems, but the focus of scientists towards bees remains the rule. Therefore, the role of other insect taxa in pollination is still overlooked. Our review focused on some of these neglected pollinating taxa, the winged aquatic insects, i.e., insects with an aquatic larval stage such as Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, Plecoptera (ETP), Megaloptera and some aquatic Diptera. We first documented the visitors of aquatic and wetland flowering plants, anticipating a greater presence of aquatic insects on these plants compared to terrestrial pollinators. Secondly, we documented plant visits, pollen found in gut contents and pollen transfers performed by aquatic insects. Our results revealed a surprisingly low proportion of aquatic insects visiting both aquatic and wetland plants, suggesting a potential gap in the literature. The scarcity of articles dedicated to pollen transfer by aquatic insects also indicates that they are fewly considered in ecological studies. While the role of aquatic insects in pollination is not well documented in the literature, records of their flower visits and pollen found on them or in their gut contents do exist and are promising clues to consider them as effective pollinators. Future research is needed to provide new insights into the importance of winged aquatic insects for the reproductive success of plants, which could also be an argument for the importance of wetland conservation.