Abstract
Our understanding of how the structure of species interactions shapes natural communities has increased, particularly regarding plant-pollinator interactions. However, research linking pollinator diversity to reproductive success has focused on pairwise plant-pollinator interactions, largely overlooking community-level dynamics. Here, we present one of the first empirical studies linking pollinator visitation to plant reproduction from a community-wide perspective. We use a well-replicated dataset encompassing 16 plant-pollinator networks and data on reproductive success for 19 plant species from Mediterranean shrub ecosystems. We find that statistical models including simple visitation metrics are sufficient to explain the variability observed. However, a mechanistic understanding of how pollinator diversity affects reproductive success requires additional information on network structure. Specifically, we find positive effects of increasing complementarity in the plant species visited by different pollinators on plant reproductive success. Hence, maintaining communities with a diversity of species but also of functions is paramount to preserving plant diversity.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
Cite as: Ainhoa Magrach, Francisco P. Molina, Ignasi Bartomeus. Niche complementarity among pollinators increases community-level plant reproductive success (2020), bioRxiv, 629931, ver. 7 peer-reviewed by Peer Community in Ecology. 10.1101/629931
This article has been peer-reviewed and recommended by Peer Community in Ecology doi: 10.24072/pci.ecology.100037
Reviewers: Nicolas Deguines, Michael Lattorff and 3 anonymous reviewers
-include conflict of interest disclosure -link to PCI Ecology recommendation
https://zenodo.org/account/settings/github/repository/ibartomeus/BeeFunData