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Herbivory and pollen limitation at the upper elevational range limit of two forest understory plants of eastern North America
Studies of species' range limits focus most often on abiotic factors, although the strength of biotic interactions might also vary along environmental gradients and have strong demographic effects. For example, pollinator abundance might decrease at range limits due to harsh environmental condi...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
2017
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5773324/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29375763 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3397 |
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author | Rivest, Sébastien Vellend, Mark |
author_facet | Rivest, Sébastien Vellend, Mark |
author_sort | Rivest, Sébastien |
collection | PubMed |
description | Studies of species' range limits focus most often on abiotic factors, although the strength of biotic interactions might also vary along environmental gradients and have strong demographic effects. For example, pollinator abundance might decrease at range limits due to harsh environmental conditions, and reduced plant density can reduce attractiveness to pollinators and increase or decrease herbivory. We tested for variation in the strength of pollen limitation and herbivory by ungulates along a gradient leading to the upper elevational range limits of Trillium erectum (Melanthiaceae) and Erythronium americanum (Liliaceae) in Mont Mégantic National Park, Québec, Canada. In T. erectum, pollen limitation was higher at the range limit, but seed set decreased only slightly with elevation and only in one of two years. In contrast, herbivory of T. erectum increased from <10% at low elevations to >60% at the upper elevational range limit. In E. americanum, we found no evidence of pollen limitation despite a significant decrease in seed set with elevation, and herbivory was low across the entire gradient. Overall, our results demonstrate the potential for relatively strong negative interactions (herbivory) and weak positive interactions (pollination) at plant range edges, although this was clearly species specific. To the extent that these interactions have important demographic consequences—highly likely for herbivory on Trillium, based on previous studies—such interactions might play a role in determining plant species' range limits along putatively climatic gradients. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5773324 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-57733242018-01-26 Herbivory and pollen limitation at the upper elevational range limit of two forest understory plants of eastern North America Rivest, Sébastien Vellend, Mark Ecol Evol Original Research Studies of species' range limits focus most often on abiotic factors, although the strength of biotic interactions might also vary along environmental gradients and have strong demographic effects. For example, pollinator abundance might decrease at range limits due to harsh environmental conditions, and reduced plant density can reduce attractiveness to pollinators and increase or decrease herbivory. We tested for variation in the strength of pollen limitation and herbivory by ungulates along a gradient leading to the upper elevational range limits of Trillium erectum (Melanthiaceae) and Erythronium americanum (Liliaceae) in Mont Mégantic National Park, Québec, Canada. In T. erectum, pollen limitation was higher at the range limit, but seed set decreased only slightly with elevation and only in one of two years. In contrast, herbivory of T. erectum increased from <10% at low elevations to >60% at the upper elevational range limit. In E. americanum, we found no evidence of pollen limitation despite a significant decrease in seed set with elevation, and herbivory was low across the entire gradient. Overall, our results demonstrate the potential for relatively strong negative interactions (herbivory) and weak positive interactions (pollination) at plant range edges, although this was clearly species specific. To the extent that these interactions have important demographic consequences—highly likely for herbivory on Trillium, based on previous studies—such interactions might play a role in determining plant species' range limits along putatively climatic gradients. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2017-12-12 /pmc/articles/PMC5773324/ /pubmed/29375763 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3397 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 Rivest, Sébastien Vellend, Mark Herbivory and pollen limitation at the upper elevational range limit of two forest understory plants of eastern North America |
title | Herbivory and pollen limitation at the upper elevational range limit of two forest understory plants of eastern North America |
title_full | Herbivory and pollen limitation at the upper elevational range limit of two forest understory plants of eastern North America |
title_fullStr | Herbivory and pollen limitation at the upper elevational range limit of two forest understory plants of eastern North America |
title_full_unstemmed | Herbivory and pollen limitation at the upper elevational range limit of two forest understory plants of eastern North America |
title_short | Herbivory and pollen limitation at the upper elevational range limit of two forest understory plants of eastern North America |
title_sort | herbivory and pollen limitation at the upper elevational range limit of two forest understory plants of eastern north america |
topic | Original Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5773324/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29375763 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3397 |
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