Why flower visitation is a poor proxy for pollination: measuring single-visit pollen deposition, with implications for pollination networks and conservation
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TLDR
It is demonstrated that single-visit deposition of pollen on virgin stigmas is a practical measure of pollinator effectiveness, using 13 temperate and tropical plant species and the most effective pollinator measured was as predicted from its pollination syndrome based on traditional advertisement and reward traits.Abstract:
Summary
The relative importance of specialized and generalized plant-pollinator relationships is contentious, yet analyses usually avoid direct measures of pollinator quality (effectiveness), citing difficulties in collecting such data in the field and so relying on visitation data alone.
We demonstrate that single-visit deposition (SVD) of pollen on virgin stigmas is a practical measure of pollinator effectiveness, using 13 temperate and tropical plant species. For each flower the most effective pollinator measured from SVD was as predicted from its pollination syndrome based on traditional advertisement and reward traits. Overall, c.n40% of visitors were not effective pollinators (range 0n78% for different flowers); thus, flowernpollinator relationships are substantially more specialized than visitation alone can reveal.
Analyses at species level are crucial, as significant variation in SVD occurred within both higher-level taxonomic groups (genus, family) and within functional groups.
Other measures sometimes used to distinguish visitors from pollinators (visit duration, frequency, or feeding behaviour in flowers) did not prove to be suitable proxies.
Distinguishing between lpollinatorsr and lvisitorsr is therefore crucial, and true lpollination networksr should include SVD to reveal pollinator effectiveness (PE). Generating such networks, now underway, could avoid potential misinterpretations of the conservation values of flower visitors, and of possible extinction threats as modelled in existing networks.read more
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References
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Pollination Syndromes and Floral Specialization
TL;DR: It is shown that pollination syndromes provide great utility in understanding the mechanisms of floral diversification and the importance of organizing pollinators into functional groups according to presumed similarities in the selection pressures they exert.
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Generalization in pollination systems, and why it matters
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TL;DR: If these key species go extinct, modules and networks may break apart and initiate cascades of extinction, Thus, species serving as hubs and connectors should receive high conservation priorities.
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TL;DR: This work used a highly resolved empirical network of interactions between 1420 pollinator and 429 plant species to simulate consequences of the phenological shifts that can be expected with a doubling of atmospheric CO(2), causing as much as half of the ancestral activity period of the animals to fall at times when no food plants were available.
Journal ArticleDOI
Tolerance of pollination networks to species extinctions
TL;DR: Tolerance in pollination networks contrasts with catastrophic declines reported from standard food webs, and the most–linked pollinators were bumble–bees and some solitary bees, which should receive special attention in efforts to conserve temperate pollination systems.