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Florally rich habitats reduce insect pollination and the reproductive success of isolated plants

Landscape heterogeneity in floral communities has the potential to modify pollinator behavior. Pollinator foraging varies with the diversity, abundance, and spatial configuration of floral resources. However, the implications of this variation for pollen transfer and ultimately the reproductive succ...

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Autores principales: Evans, Tracie M., Cavers, Stephen, Ennos, Richard, Vanbergen, Adam J., Heard, Matthew S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5574791/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28861252
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3186
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author Evans, Tracie M.
Cavers, Stephen
Ennos, Richard
Vanbergen, Adam J.
Heard, Matthew S.
author_facet Evans, Tracie M.
Cavers, Stephen
Ennos, Richard
Vanbergen, Adam J.
Heard, Matthew S.
author_sort Evans, Tracie M.
collection PubMed
description Landscape heterogeneity in floral communities has the potential to modify pollinator behavior. Pollinator foraging varies with the diversity, abundance, and spatial configuration of floral resources. However, the implications of this variation for pollen transfer and ultimately the reproductive success of insect pollinated plants remains unclear, especially for species which are rare or isolated in the landscape. We used a landscape‐scale experiment, coupled with microsatellite genotyping, to explore how the floral richness of habitats affected pollinator behavior and pollination effectiveness. Small arrays of the partially self‐compatible plant Californian poppy (Eschscholzia californica) were introduced across a landscape gradient to simulate rare, spatially isolated populations. The effects on pollinator activity, outcrossing, and plant reproduction were measured. In florally rich habitats, we found reduced pollen movement between plants, leading to fewer long‐distance pollination events, lower plant outcrossing, and a higher incidence of pollen limitation. This pattern indicates a potential reduction in per capita pollinator visitation, as suggested by the lower activity densities and richness of pollinators observed within florally rich habitats. In addition, seed production reduced by a factor of 1.8 in plants within florally rich habitats and progeny germination reduced by a factor of 1.2. We show this to be a consequence of self‐fertilization within the partially self‐compatible plant, E. californica. These findings indicate that locally rare plants are at a competitive disadvantage within florally rich habitats because neighboring plant species disrupt conspecific mating by co‐opting pollinators. Ultimately, this Allee effect may play an important role in determining the long‐term persistence of rarer plants in the landscape, both in terms of seed production and viability. Community context therefore requires consideration when designing and implementing conservation management for plants which are comparatively rare in the landscape.
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spelling pubmed-55747912017-08-31 Florally rich habitats reduce insect pollination and the reproductive success of isolated plants Evans, Tracie M. Cavers, Stephen Ennos, Richard Vanbergen, Adam J. Heard, Matthew S. Ecol Evol Original Research Landscape heterogeneity in floral communities has the potential to modify pollinator behavior. Pollinator foraging varies with the diversity, abundance, and spatial configuration of floral resources. However, the implications of this variation for pollen transfer and ultimately the reproductive success of insect pollinated plants remains unclear, especially for species which are rare or isolated in the landscape. We used a landscape‐scale experiment, coupled with microsatellite genotyping, to explore how the floral richness of habitats affected pollinator behavior and pollination effectiveness. Small arrays of the partially self‐compatible plant Californian poppy (Eschscholzia californica) were introduced across a landscape gradient to simulate rare, spatially isolated populations. The effects on pollinator activity, outcrossing, and plant reproduction were measured. In florally rich habitats, we found reduced pollen movement between plants, leading to fewer long‐distance pollination events, lower plant outcrossing, and a higher incidence of pollen limitation. This pattern indicates a potential reduction in per capita pollinator visitation, as suggested by the lower activity densities and richness of pollinators observed within florally rich habitats. In addition, seed production reduced by a factor of 1.8 in plants within florally rich habitats and progeny germination reduced by a factor of 1.2. We show this to be a consequence of self‐fertilization within the partially self‐compatible plant, E. californica. These findings indicate that locally rare plants are at a competitive disadvantage within florally rich habitats because neighboring plant species disrupt conspecific mating by co‐opting pollinators. Ultimately, this Allee effect may play an important role in determining the long‐term persistence of rarer plants in the landscape, both in terms of seed production and viability. Community context therefore requires consideration when designing and implementing conservation management for plants which are comparatively rare in the landscape. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2017-07-11 /pmc/articles/PMC5574791/ /pubmed/28861252 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3186 Text en © 2017 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Evans, Tracie M.
Cavers, Stephen
Ennos, Richard
Vanbergen, Adam J.
Heard, Matthew S.
Florally rich habitats reduce insect pollination and the reproductive success of isolated plants
title Florally rich habitats reduce insect pollination and the reproductive success of isolated plants
title_full Florally rich habitats reduce insect pollination and the reproductive success of isolated plants
title_fullStr Florally rich habitats reduce insect pollination and the reproductive success of isolated plants
title_full_unstemmed Florally rich habitats reduce insect pollination and the reproductive success of isolated plants
title_short Florally rich habitats reduce insect pollination and the reproductive success of isolated plants
title_sort florally rich habitats reduce insect pollination and the reproductive success of isolated plants
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5574791/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28861252
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3186
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