Plant–pollinator interactions within the urban environment

Hennig, Ernest I.; Ghazoul, Jaboury

doi:10.1016/j.ppees.2011.03.003

Cited by 76 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Size of green area can have positive effects on bee assemblages (Henning & Ghazoul, 2011) but other studies did not find size effects in cities at least for bumblebees (Gunnarsson & Federsel, 2014). In our study, responses of only two species, Colletes similis and Lasioglossum pauxillum , may therefore be explained by stochasticity or undetected side effects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling urban habitat and matrix effects on wild bee species

Fischer

Eichfeld

Kowarik

et al. 2016

PeerJ

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In face of a dramatic decline of wild bee species in many rural landscapes, potential conservation functions of urban areas gain importance. Yet effects of urbanization on pollinators, and in particular on wild bees, remain ambiguous and not comprehensively understood. This is especially true for amenity grassland and extensively managed wastelands within large-scale residential housing areas. Using Berlin as a study region, we aimed to investigate (a) if these greenspaces are accepted by wild bee assemblages as foraging habitats; (b) how assemblage structure of bees and individual bee species are affected by different habitat (e.g., management, flower density) and urban matrix variables (e.g., isolation, urbanization); and (c) to what extent grassland restoration can promote bees in urban environments. In summer 2012, we collected 62 bee species belonging to more than 20% of the taxa known for Berlin. Urbanization significantly affected species composition of bees; 18 species were affiliated to different levels of urbanization. Most bee species were not affected by any of the environmental variables tested, and urbanization had a negative effect only for one bee species. Further, we determined that restoration of diverse grasslands positively affected bee species richnesss in urban environments. We conclude that differently structured and managed greenspaces in large-scale housing areas can provide additional foraging habitats and refuges for pollinators. This supports approaches towards a biodiversity friendly management within urban regions and may be of particular importance given that anthropogenic pressure is increasing in many rural landscapes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling urban habitat and matrix effects on wild bee species

Fischer

Eichfeld

Kowarik

et al. 2016

PeerJ

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“…The number of studies targeting the impact of urban areas on pollinating fauna has increased in the past few years, most of them focusing on the description of abundance and diversity of urban pollinators [4]–[9]). The negative effects of urbanisation on pollinator communities are likely to impact plant-pollinator interaction networks [10] and consequently the reproductive success of plant communities. This is topical in pollination ecology, since a loss of species leads to a loss of interactions which in turn causes a loss of functions, and these interactions among organisms are key providers of ecosystem services [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant Pollinator Networks along a Gradient of Urbanisation

Geslin

Gauzens²,

Thébault³

et al. 2013

PLoS ONE

184

170

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BackgroundHabitat loss is one of the principal causes of the current pollinator decline. With agricultural intensification, increasing urbanisation is among the main drivers of habitat loss. Consequently studies focusing on pollinator community structure along urbanisation gradients have increased in recent years. However, few studies have investigated how urbanisation affects plant-pollinator interaction networks. Here we assessed modifications of plant-pollinator interactions along an urbanisation gradient based on the study of their morphological relationships.Methodology/Principal FindingsAlong an urbanisation gradient comprising four types of landscape contexts (semi-natural, agricultural, suburban, urban), we set up experimental plant communities containing two plant functional groups differing in their morphological traits (“open flowers” and “tubular flowers”). Insect visitations on these communities were recorded to build plant-pollinator networks. A total of 17 857 interactions were recorded between experimental plant communities and flower-visitors. The number of interactions performed by flower-visitors was significantly lower in urban landscape context than in semi-natural and agricultural ones. In particular, insects such as Syrphidae and solitary bees that mostly visited the open flower functional group were significantly impacted by urbanisation, which was not the case for bumblebees. Urbanisation also impacted the generalism of flower-visitors and we detected higher interaction evenness in urban landscape context than in agricultural and suburban ones. Finally, in urban context, these modifications lowered the potential reproductive success of the open flowers functional group.Conclusions/SignificanceOur findings show that open flower plant species and their specific flower-visitors are especially sensitive to increasing urbanisation. These results provide new clues to improve conservation measures within urbanised areas in favour of specialist flower-visitors. To complete this functional approach, studies using networks resolved to the species level along urbanised gradients would be required.

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“…This suggests that increased floral resources may partially mitigate other potential negative effects of urbanization such as increased impervious surface. However, it is unclear if abundant floral resources around urban gardens facilitate pollination of all plants (e.g., Moeller 2004) or if they inhibit pollination of less attractive plants due to increased competition for pollinators (e.g., Kwak et al 1998;Hennig and Ghazoul 2011). Nonetheless, multi-species floral arrays that attract a diverse pollinator assemblage (Ghazoul 2006) are expected to enhance pollination of plants with varying floral characteristics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity of wild bees supports pollination services in an urbanized landscape

2015

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Plantings in residential neighborhoods can support wild pollinators. However, it is unknown how effectively wild pollinators maintain pollination services in small, urban gardens with diverse floral resources. We used a 'mobile garden' experimental design, whereby potted plants of cucumber, eggplant, and purple coneflower were brought to 30 residential yards in Chicago, IL, USA, to enable direct assessment of pollination services provided by wild pollinator communities. We measured fruit and seed set and investigated the effect of within-yard characteristics and adjacent floral resources on plant pollination. Increased pollinator visitation and taxonomic richness generally led to increases in fruit and seed set for all focal plants. Furthermore, fruit and seed set were correlated across the three species, suggesting that pollination services vary across the landscape in ways that are consistent among different plant species. Plant species varied in terms of which pollinator groups provided the most visits and benefit for pollination. Cucumber pollination was linked to visitation by small sweat bees (Lasioglossum spp.), whereas eggplant pollination was linked to visits by bumble bees. Purple coneflower was visited by the most diverse group of pollinators and, perhaps due to this phenomenon, was more effectively pollinated in florally-rich gardens. Our results demonstrate how a diversity of wild bees supports pollination of multiple plant species, highlighting the importance of pollinator conservation within cities. Non-crop resources should continue to be planted in urban gardens, as these resources have a neutral and potentially positive effect on crop pollination.

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Plant–pollinator interactions within the urban environment

Cited by 76 publications

References 68 publications

Disentangling urban habitat and matrix effects on wild bee species

Disentangling urban habitat and matrix effects on wild bee species

Plant Pollinator Networks along a Gradient of Urbanisation

Diversity of wild bees supports pollination services in an urbanized landscape

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