Why flower visitation is a poor proxy for pollination : measuring single-visit pollen deposition, with implications for pollination networks and conservation
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. 40% of visitors were not effective pollinators (range 0–78% for different flowers); thus, flower–pollinator 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 ‘pollinators’ and ‘visitors’ is therefore crucial, and true ‘pollination networks’ 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.
Citation
King , C , Ballantyne , G A & Willmer , P G 2013 , ' Why flower visitation is a poor proxy for pollination : measuring single-visit pollen deposition, with implications for pollination networks and conservation ' , Methods in Ecology and Evolution , vol. 4 , no. 9 , pp. 811-818 . https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12074
Publication
Methods in Ecology and Evolution
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2041-210XType
Journal article
Rights
© 2013 The Authors. Methods in Ecology and Evolution © 2013 British Ecological Society. This is the accepted version of the following article: Why flower visitation is a poor proxy for pollination: measuring single-visit pollen deposition, with implications for pollination networks and conservation King, C., Ballantyne, G. A. & Willmer, P. G. Sep 2013 In : Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 4, 9, p. 811-818, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/2041-210X.12074/pdf. In addition, authors may also transmit, print and share copies with colleagues, provided that there is no systematic distribution of the submitted version, e.g. posting on a listserve, network or automated delivery. © 2013 The Authors. Methods in Ecology and Evolution © 2013 British Ecological Society. This is the accepted version of the following article: Why flower visitation is a poor proxy for pollination: measuring single-visit pollen deposition, with implications for pollination networks and conservation King, C., Ballantyne, G. A. & Willmer, P. G. Sep 2013 In : Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 4, 9, p. 811-818, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/2041-210X.12074/pdf. In addition, authors may also transmit, print and share copies with colleagues, provided that there is no systematic distribution of the submitted version, e.g. posting on a listserve, network or automated delivery.
Description
Funding: NERC studentship (CK - NE/H527291/1), St Andrews Scholarship (GB)Collections
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