I just watched Anton Petrov’s introduction to some recent discoveries in electrostatic ecology. At smaller scales electrostatic forces are very important and we’re increasingly discovering how lots of small animals (and plant parts like pollen) make use of electrostatic forces to jump and fly and sense other animals nearby.

For example, pollen grains jump onto pollinators that have gained a positive charge when they fly. Also, parasitic nematodes jump onto positively charged host insects as they fly past.

I expect there’s a lot more cool electrostatic natural history waiting to be discovered.

patreon.com/posts/149179163
youtube.com/watch?v=ql35lWxuaV…

Read more on Quanta at quantamagazine.org/the-hidden-…

#ElectrostaticEcology #nature #entomology #pollination #ecology

The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology | Quanta Magazine

Invisibly to us, insects and other tiny creatures use static electricity to travel, avoid predators, collect pollen and more. New experiments explore how evolution may have influenced this phenomenon.

^{Max G. Levy (Quanta Magazine)}