Land use change, by disrupting the co-evolved interactions between plants and their pollinators, could be causing plant reproduction to be limited by pollen supply. Using a phylogenetically controlled meta-analysis on over 2200 experimental studies and more than 1200 wild plants, we ask if land use intensification is causing plant reproduction to be pollen limited at global scales. Here we report that plants reliant on pollinators in urban settings are more pollen limited than similarly pollinator-reliant plants in other landscapes. Plants functionally specialized on bee pollinators are more pollen limited in natural than managed vegetation, but the reverse is true for plants pollinated exclusively by a non-bee functional group or those pollinated by multiple functional groups. Plants ecologically specialized on a single pollinator taxon were extremely pollen limited across land use types. These results suggest that while urbanization intensifies pollen limitation, ecologically and functionally specialized plants are at risk of pollen limitation across land use categories.

Anthropogenic environmental change disrupts interactions between plants and their animal pollinators. To assess the importance of different drivers, baseline information is needed on interaction networks and plant reproductive success around the world. We conducted a systematic literature review to determine the state of our knowledge on plant–pollinator interactions and the ecosystem services they provide for European ecosystems. We focussed on studies that published information on plant–pollinator networks, as a community-level assessment of plant–pollinator interactions and pollen limitation, which assesses the degree to which plant reproduction is limited by pollinator services. We found that the majority of our knowledge comes from Western Europe, and thus there is a need for baseline assessments in the traditional landscapes of Eastern Europe. To address this data gap, we quantified plant–pollinator interactions and conducted breeding system and pollen supplementation experiments in a traditionally managed mountain meadow in the Western Romanian Carpathians. We found the Romanian meadow to be highly diverse, with a healthy plant–pollinator network. Despite the presence of many pollinator-dependent plant species, there was no evidence of pollen limitation. Our study is the first to provide baseline information for a healthy meadow at the community level on both plant–pollinator interactions and their relationship with ecosystem function (e.g. plant reproduction) in an Eastern European country. Alongside the baseline data, we also provide recommendations for future research, and the methodological information needed for the continued monitoring and management of Eastern European meadows.

Invasive plants create refuge habitat for predators that results in increased levels of seed predation on native plants. We test the effects of a large-scale removal of the invasive plant Ammophila arenaria on the predispersal seed predation rate experienced by an endangered plant in a coastal dune ecosystem. Restoration resulted in a large and lasting reduction in seed predation in this system, and reducing predation could be an explicit goal in future restoration projects. The generalized linear mixed statistical model with a BACI (before-after-control-impact) design used here is a useful, flexible model that can be applied to analyze other large-scale restoration activities. Implications for Practice• This is the first documentation that large-scale removal of invasive plants through habitat restoration reduces the threat of seed predation via refuge-mediated apparent competition for native plants. • Reducing refuge-mediated predation pressure should be a goal incorporated into large-scale invasive plant removal programs.• Generalized linear mixed model analysis is a useful tool for analyzing before-after-control-impact designs in restoration projects.