Does the moon influence pollination?

It has been suggested that the timing of pollination of a plant that grows in the southeastern Mediterranean region coincides with the full moon in July. Is this a real effect? Or is it a coincidence? So far, there are only three data points (2011, 2012, 2014). You can help test this hypothesis further by providing additional observations in July 2016.

The plant is Ephedra foeminea Forssk. A description of the plant (adapted from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is as follows: "A climbing or scrambling shrub, found in a variety of habitats from sparse maquis, shrubland to Mediterranean woodlands (including Phoenicean juniper). Occurs on cliffs, in ravines and on bare rocks. Flowers from March to November and fruits August to January."

The pollination mechanism of E. foeminea is fascinating: the plant produces a sugary liquid that is exposed as pollination drops at small openings in the cones. Insects transport pollen to the drops which are then re-absorbed inside the cones. Images of the pollination drops at female cones are shown on the left of the project banner (photo credit: Rydin and Bolinder).

The pollination activity in E. foeminea may vary as a function of time. There may be a variation in the number of pollination drops and there may be a variation in the number of insect pollinators that visit the cones. The goal of this project is to measure these variations and to confirm whether they are associated with the full moon or not.

It is important to test this hypothesis because the presence of a lunar effect on plant pollination would have remarkable implications for plant science (both in terms of the evolutionary adaptation of plants and the ability of plants to reliably sense the full moon). Eliminating the possibility of a lunar influence on pollination would enable plant scientists to focus their efforts and research on more conventional pollination mechanisms.

The hypothesis is relatively easy to test and relies on observations of the peak pollination dates of E. foeminea during the month of July. However, detecting the peak pollination requires consistent, careful, well-documented observations. Please consider teaming up with a local botanical garden, a knowledgeable naturalist, or other naturalists in your area to make sure that your observations contribute meaningfully to the analysis.

Please tell your naturalist friends about this project. I hope that you have fun contributing observations that can help answer a real science question! Thank you for your observations!

References:

• Rydin C, Bolinder K. 2015 Moonlight pollination in the gymnosperm Ephedra (Gnetales). Biol. Lett. 11
  http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/11/4/20140993

• Margot, JL. 2015 Insufficient Evidence of Purported Lunar Effect on Pollination in Ephedra. J. of Biol. Rhythms. 30
  http://escholarship.org/uc/item/8rr3m49z

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