Pollination effectiveness of specialist and opportunistic nectar feeders influenced by invasive alien ants in the Seychelles

Fuster, Francisco; Kaiser‐Bunbury, Christopher N.; Traveset, Anna

doi:10.1002/ajb2.1499

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…The distribution of pollinator taxonomic orders across latitudes, islands and mainlands in this study generally fits the natural distribution revealed by previous studies, for example, dipterans dominate high latitudes while hymenopterans, especially bees, are more common towards low latitudes (Devoto et al., 2005; Elberling & Olesen, 1999), and more lizard pollinators and ‘other’ pollinators (can be viewed as opportunistic pollinators) occur on islands than mainlands (Fuster et al., 2020; Hervías‐Parejo & Traveset, 2018; Olesen & Valido, 2003; Wang et al., 2020). The lack of mammal pollinators such as bats (Fægri & van der Pijl, 1979), and the relative rarity of bird pollinators especially in temperate regions (Zanata et al., 2017), are taxonomic biases in our dataset and in other global analyses of pollination networks (Olesen & Jordano, 2002; Traveset et al., 2016; Trøjelsgaard & Olesen, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Geographic variation in the robustness of pollination networks is mediated by modularity

Liu

Zhang

Bascompte

et al. 2021

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim Extinctions and coextinctions seriously threaten global plant–pollinator assemblies, and thus a better understanding of the geographic variability in their robustness is urgently required. Although the geographic patterns of species extinction rates are frequently explored, it remains largely unknown how the subsequent coextinction risk of species varies across environments. We hypothesize that the geographic variation of network robustness to extinctions is mediated by modularity – the tendency of a network to be organized in modules of strongly interacting species – because modularity buffers perturbations and varies across environments. Location Global. Time period Current. Major taxa studied Flowering plants and their animal pollinators. Methods Using 79 pollination networks, we first explored the variation of network robustness across geographic and climatic gradients and, second, analysed the role of modularity in explaining the association between robustness and those environmental gradients. We quantified the robustness of taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of pollinators under simulated coextinctions triggered by specialist‐first, generalist‐first, and random plant removals. Results Only the robustness of phylogenetic diversity under specialist‐first removals showed a global latitudinal trend by which robustness increased towards the tropics on mainlands but increased towards the poles on islands. Generally, robustness was strongly promoted by modularity, and also directly dampened by insularity and precipitation seasonality (PS). Through the mediation of modularity, robustness was indirectly increased by actual evapotranspiration and PS, and decreased by the interaction between PS and insularity. Besides, network size and sampling area affected robustness but did not influence modularity. Main conclusions The indirect environmental effect on robustness via modularity was prevalent, which supports our hypothesis and reveals the importance of network structure in mediating the geographic variation of network robustness. The global pattern of robustness indicates the phylogenetic diversity of pollinators is relatively vulnerable to the loss of specialist plants in tropical islands and high‐latitude mainland compared to other regions.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Geographic variation in the robustness of pollination networks is mediated by modularity

Liu

Zhang

Bascompte

et al. 2021

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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“…Ants, though sometimes help in pollinating owers of some species [28][29][30][31] have a complex interaction with the plants 14 . This interaction has a narrow cost-bene t border 15 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Native and Invasive Ants Affect Floral Visits of Pollinating Honey Bees in Pumpkin Flowers (Cucurbita Maxima)

Unni

Mir

Rajesh

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Global pollinator decline is a major concern. Several factors – climate change, land-use change, the decline of flowers, pesticide use, invasive species – have been suggested as the reasons. The effect of ants on flowers, despite being a potential reason, received less attention. The consequences of ants being attracted to nectar sources in plants vary depending upon factors like the position of the nectar source, the identity of ants, and other mutualists interacting with the plants. We studied the interaction between floral ants and pollinators in Cucurbita maxima and compared the competition exerted by native and invasive ants on the pollinator with the hypothesis that the invasive ants exacerbate more interference competition for pollinators than native ants. The pollinator’s choice, visitation rate and time spent/visit were assessed. Regardless of species and nativity ants negatively influenced all the pollinator visitation traits, such as visitation rate and duration spent on flowers. The invasive ants exerted a higher interference competition on the pollinators than native ants did. Ants despite performing pollination in flowers with generalist pollination syndrome, can be a threat for plant-pollinator mutualism in specialists like monoecious plants. A better understanding of factors influencing pollination will help in implementing better management practices.

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“…Horvitz & Schemske 1986; Rodriguez‐Cabal et al, 2012) and pollination (e.g. Fuster et al, 2020) and spread diseases in pollinator communities (Vanbergen et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mutualism disruption by an invasive ant reduces carbon fixation for a foundational East African ant‐plant

et al. 2021

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Invasive ants shape assemblages and interactions of native species, but their effect on fundamental ecological processes is poorly understood. In East Africa, Pheidole megacephala ants have invaded monodominant stands of the ant‐tree Acacia drepanolobium, extirpating native ant defenders and rendering trees vulnerable to canopy damage by vertebrate herbivores. We used experiments and observations to quantify direct and interactive effects of invasive ants and large herbivores on A. drepanolobium photosynthesis over a 2‐year period. Trees that had been invaded for ≥ 5 years exhibited 69% lower whole‐tree photosynthesis during key growing seasons, resulting from interaction between invasive ants and vertebrate herbivores that caused leaf‐ and canopy‐level photosynthesis declines. We also surveyed trees shortly before and after invasion, finding that recent invasion induced only minor changes in leaf physiology. Our results from individual trees likely scale up, highlighting the potential of invasive species to alter ecosystem‐level carbon fixation and other biogeochemical cycles.

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Pollination effectiveness of specialist and opportunistic nectar feeders influenced by invasive alien ants in the Seychelles

Cited by 12 publications

References 69 publications

Geographic variation in the robustness of pollination networks is mediated by modularity

Geographic variation in the robustness of pollination networks is mediated by modularity

Native and Invasive Ants Affect Floral Visits of Pollinating Honey Bees in Pumpkin Flowers (Cucurbita Maxima)

Mutualism disruption by an invasive ant reduces carbon fixation for a foundational East African ant‐plant

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