A recent study by biologists’ show that interaction between plants and animals does not always speed up progressive alterations in biodiversity, but it can sometimes diminish it.

The study published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology analyzed Joshua tree and its pollinator insect.

It reveals that the moth and the tree show no evidence of adaptation by the moth to the locally available Joshua trees. "We had previously observed two species of moths and have shown that the larger moth species uses large flowers and the smaller moth species uses smaller flowers.

However, once we account for this difference, there no evidence that moths have adapted to flowers," the lead researcher William Godsoe, post doctorate scholar at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis explains.

A group of researchers from the University of Idaho used a mathematical model to study various interactions between the plants and animals and its effects. The study revealed that various interactions between plants and animals showed different results. "The interactions we stimulated all change the evolution of the interacting species," explains Jeremy Yoder, one of the researchers from the University of Idaho. "But different interactions can have very different effects – some increase diversity, some don't increase diversity at all, and some can even reduce diversity.”

The study findings published in The American Naturalist seconds the theory of species interactions adversely affecting biodiversity. According to Yoder, "The pattern we're finding in the Joshua tree and moth data are exactly what we expect from the theory. Co-evolution between Joshua tree and its pollinators acts to reduce the variation within species, which creates stronger contrasts between moth species and Joshua tree varieties."

For ages, biologists have believed that the interaction between plants and insects enhance biodiversity. But, the latest research by the biologists from University of Idaho thrashed the age old concept.