Changes in pollinator community of Scadoxus cinnabarinus (Amaryllidaceae) along its elevational range on Mount Cameroon

Mertens, Jan E. J.; Janeček, Štěpán; Dzekashu, Fairo F.; Chmelová, Eliška; Fokam, Eric B.; Tropek, Robert

doi:10.1007/s11829-020-09741-0

Cited by 13 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Because we are not aware of any studies on plant-lepidopteran pollination networks along any tropical elevational gradient for comparison, we can hardly speculate if the revealed patterns can be general. However, a study of the Scadoxus cinnabarinus pollination system showed peaking diversity and abundance of flower-visiting butterflies at mid-elevations of the plant range (Mertens et al, 2020). Besides numerous factors responsible for the generally high diversity at mid-elevations in many insect groups (e.g.…”

Section: Elevational Patterns Of Lepidopteran Pollinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, some butterflies (e.g. Arroyo et al, 2007;Mertens et al, 2020;Santos et al, 2020) and moths (e.g. Fleming & Holland, 1998;Hahn & Brühl, 2016;Johnson et al, 2017;Skogen et al, 2019) are key pollinators of specialised plants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, neither elevational nor seasonal patterns of tropical lepidopteran role in pollination networks were studied, except a few case studies of individual plant species (e.g. Mertens et al, 2020). However, we can expect some correlations of their role in networks with their general diversity patterns.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Role and patterns of butterflies and hawkmoths in plant-pollinator networks at different elevations and seasons in tropical rainforests of Mount Cameroon

Mertens

Brisson

Janeček

et al. 2021

Preprint

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1. Butterflies and moths are well-visible flower visitors. Nevertheless, almost no quantification of their role in plant-pollinator interactions exists at a community level, especially from tropical rainforests. Moreover, we have virtually no knowledge on environmental and other factors affecting lepidopteran flower visits. 2. We focused on the role of butterflies and hawkmoths as flower visitors in tropical rainforests of Mount Cameroon, especially on its elevational and seasonal changes. We also analysed their preferences to selected floral traits, with a specific focus on pollination syndromes. 3. We video-recorded flower visitors of 1,115 specimens of 212 plant species (>26,000 recording hrs) along the complete elevational gradient of rainforests in two main seasons, and compared frequencies of flower-visiting lepidopterans to other visitors. We compared characteristics of plant-lepidopteran networks among elevations and seasons, and analysed patterns of selected lepidopteran traits. Finally, we analysed inter-family differences in their floral preferences. 4. Altogether, we recorded 734 flower visits by 80 butterflies and 27 hawkmoth species, representing only ~4% of all 18,439 flower visits. Although lepidopterans visited only a third species, they appeared key visitors of several plants. The most flower visits by lepidopterans were recorded in mid-elevations and dry season, mirroring the general patterns of lepidopteran diversity. The networks showed no apparent elevational or seasonal patterns, probably because of the surprisingly high specialisation of interactions in all networks. Significant non-linear changes of proboscis and forewing lengths were found along elevation, and long-proboscid hesperiid butterflies visited flowers with longer tubes or spurs. Substantial differences in floral preferences were found between sphingids, and papilionid, nymphalid and lycaenid butterflies, revealing importance of nectar production, floral size and shape for sphingids, and floral colour for butterflies. 5. Butterflies and hawkmoths were confirmed as relatively minor visitors of tropical forest flowers, although they seemed crucial for pollination of some plant species. Moreover, the revealed floral preferences and trait-matchings confirmed a potential of some lepidopteran families to drive floral evolution in tropical ecosystems.

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Section: Elevational Patterns Of Lepidopteran Pollinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Role and patterns of butterflies and hawkmoths in plant-pollinator networks at different elevations and seasons in tropical rainforests of Mount Cameroon

Mertens

Brisson

Janeček

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…The flowering plant species along the set transects were recorded for a 24-hour period using security cameras (VIVOTEK IB8367T with IR night vision; for more information on the methodology see Klomberg et al, 2019;Mertens et al, 2020Mertens et al, , 2018 to detect and identify flower visitors to 13 functional groups of pollinators. We recorded flowers at all vegetation strata from understory to canopies (reached using tree climbing methods).…”

Section: Visitor Recordingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A. Johnson, 2013;Pichler, Boreux, Klein, Schleuning, & Hartig, 2020). The second problem is that the role of individual floral traits and the related selection pressures can vary in space and time (Abrahamczyk, Kluge, Gareca, Reichle, & Kessler, 2011;Albrecht et al, 2018;González et al, 2009;Hawkins & Devries, 2009;Mayr et al, 2020;J. Mertens et al, 2020;Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal shifts in the role of floral traits in shaping tropical plant-pollinator interactions

Klomberg

Tropek

Mertens³

et al. 2020

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The pollination syndrome hypothesis predicts that plants pollinated by the same pollinator group bear convergent combinations of specific floral traits. Nevertheless, some studies have shown relatively low predictive power for these floral trait combinations. This discrepancy may be caused by changes in the importance of specific floral traits for shaping interactions under different environmental conditions and for different pollinator groups. To test this, we studied pollination systems and floral traits along an elevational gradient on Mount Cameroon during wet and dry seasons. Using Random Forest models, allowing the ranking of traits by significance, we demonstrated that some floral traits are more important than others in shaping interactions and that these traits predict pollinators relatively well. However, the distribution and importance of traits varies under different environmental conditions. Our results imply the need to improve our trait-based understanding of plant-pollinator interactions to better inform the debate surrounding pollination syndrome hypothesis.

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Seasonal and elevational changes of plant‐pollinator interaction networks in East African mountains

Dzekashu

Pirk

Yusuf

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Across an elevation gradient, several biotic and abiotic factors influence community assemblages of interacting species leading to a shift in species distribution, functioning, and ultimately topologies of species interaction networks. However, empirical studies of climate‐driven seasonal and elevational changes in plant‐pollinator networks are rare, particularly in tropical ecosystems. Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspots in Kenya, East Africa. We recorded plant‐bee interactions at 50 study sites between 515 and 2600 m asl for a full year, following all four major seasons in this region. We analysed elevational and seasonal network patterns using generalised additive models (GAMs) and quantified the influence of climate, floral resource availability, and bee diversity on network structures using a multimodel inference framework. We recorded 16,741 interactions among 186 bee and 314 plant species of which a majority involved interactions with honeybees. We found that nestedness and bee species specialisation of plant‐bee interaction networks increased with elevation and that the relationships were consistent in the cold‐dry and warm‐wet seasons respectively. Link rewiring increased in the warm‐wet season with elevation but remained indifferent in the cold‐dry seasons. Conversely, network modularity and plant species were more specialised at lower elevations during both the cold‐dry and warm‐wet seasons, with higher values observed during the warm‐wet seasons. We found flower and bee species diversity and abundance rather than direct effects of climate variables to best predict modularity, specialisation, and link rewiring in plant‐bee‐interaction networks. This study highlights changes in network architectures with elevation suggesting a potential sensitivity of plant‐bee interactions with climate warming and changes in rainfall patterns along the elevation gradients of the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot.

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Changes in pollinator community of Scadoxus cinnabarinus (Amaryllidaceae) along its elevational range on Mount Cameroon

Cited by 13 publications

References 59 publications

Role and patterns of butterflies and hawkmoths in plant-pollinator networks at different elevations and seasons in tropical rainforests of Mount Cameroon

Role and patterns of butterflies and hawkmoths in plant-pollinator networks at different elevations and seasons in tropical rainforests of Mount Cameroon

Spatiotemporal shifts in the role of floral traits in shaping tropical plant-pollinator interactions

Seasonal and elevational changes of plant‐pollinator interaction networks in East African mountains

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