Do pollination syndromes cause modularity and predict interactions in a pollination network in tropical high‐altitude grasslands?

Abstract

The concept of pollination syndromes has been widely questioned, since plant–pollinator interactions have proved to be more generalist than was previously thought. We examined whether the network of a tropical high‐altitude grassland contained groups of plants and pollinators that interact preferentially with each other. A general binary matrix was created. To assess the robustness of myophily, in all analyses we considered: 1) the whole network, 2) the network after the wasps were removed, and 3) the network after the flies were removed. For each network we evaluated whether: 1) the observed interactions were more related to syndromes than expected by chance, compared to an expected matrix; 2) there was a modular structure; 3) the modules found were more related to syndromes than expected by chance, compared to another expected matrix; 4) the syndromes were equally robust. For this analysis, the general matrix was subdivided into smaller matrices that included each pollination syndrome separately. To test the influence of the functional groups of pollinators and the phylogeny of plants, in addition to the general matrix, we also considered the first expected matrix, a quantitative functional group and a plant phylogeny matrix. The pollination syndromes determined the pattern of interactions in the network: 69% of the total interactions resulted from the functional group of pollinators predicted by the plant syndrome. The network showed greater modularity (13 modules) than expected by chance, mostly consisting of the expected functional groups of pollinators and plant syndromes. The modules were associated with pollination syndromes more than was predicted by chance. Most of the variation in interactions was explained by functional groups of pollinators or by plant syndromes. Plant phylogeny did not account for a significant amount of variation in the interactions. Our findings support the concept of pollination syndromes. However, the interactions were not equally predicted by different pollination syndromes, and the accuracy of the prediction was strongest for ornithophily and melittophily.

Distribuição vertical dos sistemas de polinização bióticos em áreas de cerrado sentido restrito no Triângulo Mineiro, MG, Brasil

“…Apesar das síndromes de polinização serem boas preditoras dos sistemas de polinização efetivos (e.g., Danieli-Silva et al 2012), os dados aqui apresentados sugerem que as abelhas polinizam primariamente um espectro muito maior de plantas do que o que seria previsto com base apenas nas síndromes morfológicas de polinização. Se considerássemos nesse estudo apenas as síndromes de polinização definidas por Faegri & van der Pijl (1979), a espécie Odontadenia lutea (Apocynaceae), por exemplo, estaria enquadrada na síndrome de polinização esfingófila.…”

Understanding the Complex Structure of a Plant-Floral Visitor Network from Different Perspectives in Coastal Veracruz, Mexico

“…Even though a highly criticized view (Waser et al, 1996), some authors assume that specialization is the rule and generalization an RESEARCH ARTICLE -WASPS exception (Kothamasi et al, 2010). Although different studies discuss the existence of pollination syndromes (Hingston & McQuillan, 2000;Fenster et al, 2004;Valdivia & Hermann, 2009;Danieli-Silva et al, 2012), only a few consider communities instead of populations (Ollerton et al, 2009).…”

“…pollinators (Richards, 1997), and have provided some of the strongest support for pollinator driven floral evolution (Danieli-Silva et al, 2012;Hirota et al, 2012). However, they could be misused, such that without previous observations a person could judge or ascertain which type of pollinator visits a certain plant species.…”

The Evolution and Pollination of Oceanic Bellflowers (Campanulaceae)

“…Successful establishments have occurred many times during the island history, especially after their colonization by humans. Plasticity in plant-pollinator interactions and in pollination-associated characters may facilitate invasions of plants and animals into the native ecological networks (Olesen et al 2002a;Kaiser-Bunbury et al 2010;Danieli-Silva et al 2012). For instance, a specialist island bird may have become extinct and substituted by other more opportunistic birds, such as passerines.…”