The high variability observed in floral traits has been interpreted as resulting from the adaptation of plants to pollinators, as the latter present innate preferences for specific floral traits and impose selection over them. However, some pollinators such as bees can learn to associate floral signals with rewards, thus increasing floral constancy on more rewarding flowers. The integration of all these rewards and cues is markedly important at community level, where co‐flowering species compete for pollinators. In order to verify the honesty of the above‐mentioned signals, we examined the association between floral visual signals (size, colour, symmetry and floral display) and rewards (pollen and nectar) for 98 species in a Mediterranean community. The associations between floral traits were analysed considering the phylogenetic relationship between the different species. Flower colour, size, pollen volume or amount of sucrose exhibited no phylogenetic signal, which suggests an adaptive evolution in response to different conditions in the pollinator community. Flower size was seen to constitute the most honest signal for pollinators, as this was significantly associated with quantities of pollen and nectar. In contrast, nectar concentration was observed to be positively associated with chromatic contrast. We detected no relationship between flower shape and rewards, on the one hand, nor between flower display and rewards, on the other. Our study unequivocally demonstrates the correlation between rewards and the visual signals perceived by bees, the most effective pollinators in the Mediterranean Basin. In the community studied, bees employed flower size at longer distances and chromatic contrast at shorter distances to predict rewards. The limited number of studies existing in this sense indicates that this kind of association appears to be community specific.
Range expansion in plant populations, especially at the colonization front, can be either limited by disproportionately large effects of antagonistic interactions or facilitated by their release. How the strength of antagonistic interactions changes along successional gradients during range expansion is still poorly documented, especially when diverse assemblages of plant antagonists (rodents, invertebrates and birds) combine within interaction networks. We study the changes in individual‐based, predispersal seed–pulp predator networks along a colonization gradient in a rapidly expanding Juniperus phoenicea population in Doñana National Park (SW Spain). Additionally, we analysed the role of individual plant traits and neighbourhood attributes in network configuration by using Exponential Random Graph Models. Seven seed–pulp consumer animal species varied significantly in their frequency of interaction and prevalence. While invertebrate species were well‐established in old and intermediately mature stands, greenfinch Chloris chloris was dominant at the colonization front. Variable species roles and spread of interactions among individual plants generated changes in the configuration of interactions during plant expansion. Individual plant traits strongly determined the topology of these networks, although with differences between stands. Increasing individual crop size and seeds per cone increased the interaction odds of individual plants, while seed viability showed the opposite effect. The network topology at the colonization front appeared less driven by individual traits, possibly because of the short interaction history of this recently established area. The disproportionately large effect of C. chloris in these recently established stands, potentially resulted in large seed losses during range expansion. Synthesis. Turnover of antagonistic interactions, characterized the colonization front, resulting in more heterogeneous interaction strengths among individual plants. We found no evidence for a complete or sizeable antagonistic release of J. phoenicea at the colonization front promoting this rapid expansion. It becomes necessary to explore interactions with seed dispersers to understand how antagonistic and mutualistic plant–animal interactions balance during range expansion. Our study highlights the importance of an individual‐based approach in understanding how interactions are structured and driven in natural changing landscapes.
Las abejas son un grupo extremadamente diverso con más de 1000 especies descritas en la península ibérica. Además, son excelentes polinizadores y aportan numerosos servicios ecosistémicos fundamentales para la mayoría de ecosistemas terrestres. Debido a los diversos cambios ambientales inducidos por el ser humano, existen evidencias del declive de algunas de sus poblaciones para ciertas especies. Sin embargo, conocemos muy poco del estado de conservación de la mayoría de especies y de muchas de ellas ignoramos cuál es su distribución en la península ibérica. En este trabajo presentamos un esfuerzo colaborativo para crear una base de datos de ocurrencias de abejas que abarca la península ibérica e islas Baleares que permitirá resolver cuestiones como la distribución de las diferentes especies, preferencia de hábitat, fenología o tendencias históricas. En su versión actual, esta base de datos contiene un total de 87 684 registros de 923 especies recolectados entre 1830 y 2022, de los cuales un 87% presentan información georreferenciada. Para cada registro se incluye información relativa a la localidad de muestreo (89%), identificador y colector de la especie (64%), fecha de captura (54%) y planta donde se recolectó (20%). Creemos que esta base de datos es el punto de partida para conocer y conservar mejor la biodiversidad de abejas en la península ibérica e Islas Baleares. Se puede acceder a estos datos a través del siguiente enlace permanente: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6354502
Although several insect orders have been deeply studied in plant–animal interactions (e.g. pollination) cockroaches have traditionally been ignored in taxonomic and ecological studies. However, they could be playing a role in the reproduction of several plants. To date, 8 plant species use cockroaches as a pollination agent. In our study, we have reviewed 2865 records from citizen science platforms and our own data from the Iberian Peninsula to find flower visits made by cockroaches. We have detected 51 interaction records involving at least 8 different cockroach species and 35 plant species. Furthermore, nearly half of the detected cockroaches carried pollen on various parts of their bodies. These insects were found to mainly visit white, yellow and pink flowers from Apiaceae, Asteraceae and Cistaceae plant families (among others) mainly in late spring and early summer. However, for the confirmation of effective pollination, new studies must be carried out. Additionally, although the existence of pollination syndrome is far from being understood, we provide new insights that could help shed some light on this unknown relationship. Here we provide the first approximation of cockroach floral perception and we have detected that white flowers show the best fit and higher conspicousness to cockroach colour vision, as suggested for other neglected pollinator insects.
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