Network robustness and structure depend on the phenological characteristics of plants and pollinators

Guzman, Laura Melissa; Chamberlain, Scott; Elle, Elizabeth

doi:10.1002/ece3.8055

Cited by 14 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…Recent works on plant and pollinator communities emphasize the importance of seasonal dynamics on pollination network structure and species persistence (Guzman et al 2021 ). Considering the respective phenologies of plants and pollinators, it is essential to examine interactions from a month-to-month perspective to assess short-term variations in network properties (CaraDonna and Waser 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Native and exotic plants play different roles in urban pollination networks across seasons

2023

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Urban areas often host exotic plant species, whether managed or spontaneous. These plants are suspected of affecting pollinator diversity and the structure of pollination networks. However, in dense cityscapes, exotic plants also provide additional flower resources during periods of scarcity, and the consequences for the seasonal dynamics of networks still need to be investigated. For two consecutive years, we monitored monthly plant–pollinator networks in 12 green spaces in Paris, France. We focused on seasonal variations in the availability and attractiveness of flower resources, comparing native and exotic plants at both the species and community levels. We also considered their respective contributions to network properties over time (specialization and nestedness). Exotic plants provided more abundant and diverse flower resources than native plants, especially from late summer on. However, native plants received more visits and attracted more pollinator species at the community level; and during certain times of the year at the species level as well. Exotic plants were involved in more generalist interactions, increasingly so over the seasons. In addition, they contributed more to network nestedness than native plants. These results show that exotic plants are major components of plant–pollinator interactions in a dense urban landscape, even though they are less attractive than natives. They constitute a core of generalist interactions that increase nestedness and can participate in the overall stability of the network. However, most exotic species were seldom visited by insects. Pollinator communities may benefit from including more native species when managing urban green spaces.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Native and exotic plants play different roles in urban pollination networks across seasons

2023

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“…If the goal of prairie restoration is to reestablish a native plant community, invasive forbs are a threat to that goal. However, invasive forbs can play beneficial roles in plant–pollinator networks by supporting pollinators as they are often available later in the season and have abundant, showy blooms (Larson et al 2016; Russo et al 2019; Guzman et al 2021). Invasive forbs at our restored sites supplied floral resources to pollinators when native forbs had yet to establish, comprising 50% of the overall interactions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Invasive forbs at our restored sites supplied floral resources to pollinators when native forbs had yet to establish, comprising 50% of the overall interactions. The presence of invasive forbs causes plant–pollinator networks to become more generalized, expanding the proportion of the ecological community that pollinators and forbs interact with (Albrecht et al 2014; Russo et al 2019; Guzman et al 2021). Further, the removal of invasive species can decrease the overall robustness of plant–pollinator networks by causing secondary species extinctions (Albrecht et al 2012; Guzman et al 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The presence of invasive forbs causes plant–pollinator networks to become more generalized, expanding the proportion of the ecological community that pollinators and forbs interact with (Albrecht et al 2014; Russo et al 2019; Guzman et al 2021). Further, the removal of invasive species can decrease the overall robustness of plant–pollinator networks by causing secondary species extinctions (Albrecht et al 2012; Guzman et al 2021). However, these responses can vary with invasive species; for example, invasive shrub removal in one study increased network generalization (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lower diversity of forbs in prairie restoration alters pollinator communities but not structural characteristics of plant–pollinator networks

Hoskins,

Welti,

Brown

2024

Restoration Ecology

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Reestablishment of native plant communities is often the primary focus of ecological restoration. This is especially true for prairie restoration, which often struggles to establish diverse forb communities. An often‐overlooked component in plant reestablishment is pollinators, with 85% of forbs requiring pollination for seed reproduction. A deeper understanding of the relationship between plant and pollinator communities could improve prairie restoration success. Our goal was to determine if prairie restoration is successfully reestablishing forb and pollinator communities and their interactions by measuring plant–pollinator networks. We hypothesized that both forb and pollinator communities would be less diverse and abundant in restoration sites compared to intact prairie remnants, and that as a result, plant–pollinator networks in restoration sites would have higher nestedness and connectance, but lower modularity and network specialization than remnant sites. To test this, we measured plant–pollinator networks and forb communities from June to September 2020 at three restored and three remnant Palouse Prairie sites in eastern Washington, United States. We found that although restored sites had lower species richness of forbs and pollinators and different community composition, forb and pollinator abundance was comparable between treatments. Forb abundance in restored sites was equivalent to prairie remnants due to the presence of invasive forbs. However, these differences in community composition and diversity did not appear to impact network metrics including nestedness, connectance, modularity, and network specialization, which were similar between remnant and restored sites. Our results suggest that the structural characteristics of plant–pollinator networks can be maintained by different plant communities.

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“…Recent works on plant and pollinator communities emphasize the importance of seasonal dynamics on pollination network structure and species persistence (Guzman et al 2021). Considering the respective phenologies of plants and pollinators, it is essential to examine interactions from a month-to-month perspective to assess short-term variations in network properties (CaraDonna and Waser 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Native and exotic plants play different roles in urban pollination networks across seasons

Zaninotto

Thébault

Dajoz

2022

Preprint

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Urban areas often host exotic plant species, whether managed or spontaneous. These plants are suspected of affecting pollinator diversity and the structure of pollination networks. However, in dense cityscapes, exotic plants also provide additional flower resources during periods of scarcity, and the consequences for the seasonal dynamics of networks still need to be investigated. For two consecutive years, we monitored monthly plant-pollinator networks in twelve greenspaces of Paris, France. We focused on seasonal variations in the availability and attractiveness of flower resources, comparing native and exotic plants at both the species and community levels. We also considered their respective contributions to networks properties over time (specialization and nestedness). Exotic plants provided more abundant and diverse flower resources than native plants, especially late in the season. However, native plants received more visits and attracted more pollinator species, both at the community and species levels. Exotic plants were involved in more generalist interactions, and this became more so as the season progressed. In addition, they contributed more to network nestedness than native plants. These results show that exotic plants are major components of plant-pollinator interactions in a dense urban landscape, even though they are less attractive to diverse pollinators. They constitute a core of generalist interactions that increase nestedness and can participate in the overall stability of the network. However, most exotic species were seldom visited by insects. Pollinator communities may benefit from including more native species, as well as entomophilous varieties of exotic plants, when managing urban greenspaces.

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Network robustness and structure depend on the phenological characteristics of plants and pollinators

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri bution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 14 publications

References 103 publications

Native and exotic plants play different roles in urban pollination networks across seasons

Native and exotic plants play different roles in urban pollination networks across seasons

Lower diversity of forbs in prairie restoration alters pollinator communities but not structural characteristics of plant–pollinator networks

Native and exotic plants play different roles in urban pollination networks across seasons

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