They’re hardly visible, often considered agricultural pests. Yet thrips, those tiny insects you might sometimes notice on flower petals, turn out to be main players in pollination, according to a new study recently published in Annals of Botany.
For centuries, pollination research has been focused on bees, butterflies and other popular insects. Meanwhile, thrips, typically less than 2 millimeters long, have been widely considered not welcomed garden visitors. But this perception is incomplete, according to this research team who have conducted the most extensive analysis of thrips pollination to date.
The research, led by Cristina Pop, reveals that thrips serve as pollinators for a remarkable number of plants, including nearly half of all seed plant orders, 53 plant families, and 102 genera. More interestingly, for many plant species, thrips aren’t just occasional visitors but primary or exclusive pollinators.
Darwin (1877), being the consummate observer, noticed small pollen-carrying insects, specifically thrips, that could not be barred from flowers easily. He wondered if they might cross-pollinate the plants he had intended for self-fertilization. Indeed, we can conclude that thrips are more important as pollinators than commonly considered. Our survey has identified that thrips are pollinators across the globe and across Gymnosperms and Angiosperms.
Several factors seem to be involved to make these tiny insects effective pollinators despite their small size. First is the number of thrips: a single flower may host thousands of them simultaneously. Each thrip might carry only a small pollen load, typically up to 100 grains, but taken together, their impact is considerable.
On the other hand, thrips’ small size allows them to reach parts of flowers that are inaccessible to larger pollinators. Many thrips-pollinated plants have globose (spherical) structures or narrow slits that exclude bigger insects while providing thrips with both food and shelter.
But maybe the most surprising thing about thrips is that they can travel with the wind. Unlike bees or butterflies, thrips can be carried by air currents, potentially spreading pollen across long distances. This combination of exclusive floral access and long-distance transport makes them uniquely effective pollinators.
A meta-analysis conducted as part of the study demonstrated that thrips can significantly enhance seed and fruit production compared to control conditions. In some cases, their contribution is similar to that of better known pollinators.
The authors mention that unlike what happens with other pollinators, plants pollinated by thrips don’t share a single “syndrome” of characteristics or “thripophily”. Some thrips-pollinated plants do produce specific scents that attract these insects, while others have specialized structures that serve as shelter to thrips. However, the researchers suggest that too few systems have been studied in detail to make broad generalizations.
The study also raises some evolutionary questions. If thrips have been significant pollinators throughout plant evolutionary history, they may have contributed to the selection pressure on floral traits, helping explain certain flower characteristics that have been hard for botanists to understand.
The findings arrive at a critical moment in pollinator conservation. As climate change and habitat loss threaten very well known pollinators like bees and butterflies, understanding the full diversity of pollination networks becomes increasingly important.
READ THE ARTICLE
Pop C., Terry I., Mound L. and van der Kooi C. (2025) Tiny but significant: on the importance of thrips as pollinators. Annals of Botany. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf069
Cover image: Irene Terry
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