Experimental species removal reveals species contributions to positive pollinator-mediated reproductive interactions
(2024) In Ecology 105(12).- Abstract
Pollinator-mediated reproductive interactions among co-flowering plant species provide a canonical example of how biotic factors may contribute to species coexistence, yet we lack understanding of the exact mechanisms. Flowering-dominant and unusually attractive “magnet species” with disproportionate contributions to pollination may play key roles in such reproductive interactions, but their relative roles within the same community have rarely been assessed. We experimentally removed either a flowering-dominant or a highly attractive magnet species and compared effects on visitation frequency, pollinator richness, and seed set of co-flowering plants. Removal of either the flowering-dominant species or the magnet species reduced... (More)
Pollinator-mediated reproductive interactions among co-flowering plant species provide a canonical example of how biotic factors may contribute to species coexistence, yet we lack understanding of the exact mechanisms. Flowering-dominant and unusually attractive “magnet species” with disproportionate contributions to pollination may play key roles in such reproductive interactions, but their relative roles within the same community have rarely been assessed. We experimentally removed either a flowering-dominant or a highly attractive magnet species and compared effects on visitation frequency, pollinator richness, and seed set of co-flowering plants. Removal of either the flowering-dominant species or the magnet species reduced community-level pollinator visitation. Removal of the magnet species had the most consistent effect, including reduced pollinator visitation and richness, and reduced seed set of most co-flowering plants. These results suggest that the magnet species, which interacts with a wider range of pollinator species than does the dominant species, promotes the visitation and reproductive fitness of most other species. Removal of the flowering-dominant species affected only certain species, perhaps because these plants had floral traits similar to the dominant species. Our results highlight the role of attractive magnet species within a community in structuring reproductive interactions and identify potential mechanisms involved in coexistence facilitated by reproductive interactions.
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- author
- Bi, Cheng LU ; Opedal, Øystein H. LU ; Yang, Ting ; Gao, Erliang and Zhao, Zhigang
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-10-22
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- facilitation interactions, flowering-dominant species, flowering-magnet species, plant reproductive fitness, plant species coexistence, plant–plant interactions
- in
- Ecology
- volume
- 105
- issue
- 12
- pages
- 15 pages
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85207262443
- ISSN
- 0012-9658
- DOI
- 10.1002/ecy.4455
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Ecological Society of America.
- id
- 130bef44-e92e-44c5-8e86-868601ca7207
- date added to LUP
- 2024-11-20 08:35:33
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 14:43:24
@article{130bef44-e92e-44c5-8e86-868601ca7207,
abstract = {{<p>Pollinator-mediated reproductive interactions among co-flowering plant species provide a canonical example of how biotic factors may contribute to species coexistence, yet we lack understanding of the exact mechanisms. Flowering-dominant and unusually attractive “magnet species” with disproportionate contributions to pollination may play key roles in such reproductive interactions, but their relative roles within the same community have rarely been assessed. We experimentally removed either a flowering-dominant or a highly attractive magnet species and compared effects on visitation frequency, pollinator richness, and seed set of co-flowering plants. Removal of either the flowering-dominant species or the magnet species reduced community-level pollinator visitation. Removal of the magnet species had the most consistent effect, including reduced pollinator visitation and richness, and reduced seed set of most co-flowering plants. These results suggest that the magnet species, which interacts with a wider range of pollinator species than does the dominant species, promotes the visitation and reproductive fitness of most other species. Removal of the flowering-dominant species affected only certain species, perhaps because these plants had floral traits similar to the dominant species. Our results highlight the role of attractive magnet species within a community in structuring reproductive interactions and identify potential mechanisms involved in coexistence facilitated by reproductive interactions.</p>}},
author = {{Bi, Cheng and Opedal, Øystein H. and Yang, Ting and Gao, Erliang and Zhao, Zhigang}},
issn = {{0012-9658}},
keywords = {{facilitation interactions; flowering-dominant species; flowering-magnet species; plant reproductive fitness; plant species coexistence; plant–plant interactions}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{10}},
number = {{12}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Ecology}},
title = {{Experimental species removal reveals species contributions to positive pollinator-mediated reproductive interactions}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4455}},
doi = {{10.1002/ecy.4455}},
volume = {{105}},
year = {{2024}},
}