Assessment of Mosquito Pollination

Abstract

Adult mosquitoes, sometimes in vast numbers, visit flowers in their search for floral nectar. However, the ability of mosquitoes to pollinate the flowers they visit is often neglected and sometimes even presumptively dismissed. Despite this, mosquito pollination has been reported in many instances, although many questions linger about its extent, importance, and the breadth of floral species or mosquito species which may be involved. In this protocol, I describe methodology to assess whether mosquitoes pollinate a flowering plant they visit, which can create a foundation for future investigations into this topic.