Pollination in the Chilean Mediterranean‐type ecosystem: a review of current advances and pending tasks

Abstract

We conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature published on plant-pollinator interactions, from both the plant and pollinator perspective, in the Chilean Mediterranean-type ecosystem (MTE hereafter). Our search identified 69 published papers on 235 native plant species from 62 families. Less than 7.9% of the flowering species inhabiting the Chilean Mediterranean have been studied, and most studies were restricted to only one locality and one reproductive season. The geographic location of the studies differed from a random pattern, showing two well-defined areas where most studies were conducted. Likewise, most studies in the Andes Range were performed above 2000 m a.s.l. The number of species of flower visitor per plant species was low (4.25 ± 0.22), which probably results from the historical and biogeographic isolation of Chile. This literature survey shows that studies relating floral traits with pollinator attraction and plant reproduction are the most frequent topics of research, reaching 37.6% of studies, followed by studies that examine pollination in relation to human impact (16.1%), micro- and macroevolution (14.0%), relationships between pollination and other ecological interactions (10.8%), community and network assessments (11.8%), and effects of abiotic variables on pollination interactions (9.7%). Our review highlights a lack of research on the effects of pollination for anthropogenic land use especially as agricultural practice is one of the most salient features of the Chilean MTE. Future directions to increase our understanding of the role of plant-pollinator relationships for biodiversity maintenance should include: to extend the taxonomic and geographic scope of research, to increase the number of spatial and temporal replicates, to increase the number of studies on pollination networks as they provide estimates of community complexity and putative stability, to develop studies that estimate the importance of pollination for plant demographic parameters and conservation, and to conduct studies that estimate the ecological service provided by Chilean native pollinators for crop yield and sustainable agriculture.

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“…This relationship is consistent with their flower morphology (funnelform) and flowering peaks that occur in October and November when pollinator activity increases coupled with the increase in day temperature (Walter, 2008). The high diversity of native bees in the xeric areas of Chile has long been recognized in the literature (Michener, 1979) which are important pollinators in central Chile (Montalva & Ruz, 2010;Medel, González-Browne & Fontúrbel, 2018), some such as Alloscirtetica lanosa Urban, 1971 (Apidae), Diadasia chilensis Spinola, 1851 (Apidae), Xenochilicola diminuta Toro and Moldenke, 1979 (Colletidae) and…”

The best bang for the bucks: rethinking global investment on biodiversity conservation

“…For example, Chile has protected ~22% of its territory, but 89% of those protected areas are located in latitudes > 43ºS, resulting in an uneven distribution of the area under protection regime (Armesto et al, 1998), leaving many conservationconcern and highly threatened taxa unprotected (e.g., Duarte et al, 2014). In this example, most of the threatened and endemic species, along with specialized ecological interactions occur in the Mediterranean type-ecosystem of central Chile (Medel et al, 2018), which has the lowest protected area coverage, and also is highly-threatened by the expansion of urban areas, vineyards, and avocado plantations. If we examine this pattern at the global scale, we observe a moderate correspondence of protected areas with biodiversity hotspots (Fig.…”

The most effective pollinator principle applies to new invasive pollinators

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