Effects of Pollinator Loss on Endemic New Zealand Mistletoes (Loranthaceae)

Robertson, Alastair W.; Kelly, Dave; Ladley, Jenny J.; Sparrow, Ashley D.

doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.1999.97471.x

Cited by 81 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Declines in pollination (24) and seed dispersal (20) as a result of bird extinctions may lead to extinctions of dependent plant species (25). The former is particularly important in the Austral, New Zealand, and Oceanic regions, where the proportion of bird-pollinated plants is higher than other parts of the world (26), and, in the case of the latter two regions, most of the presettlement avifauna is already extinct (27).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem consequences of bird declines

Şekercioğlu

Daily

Ehrlich

2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

703

488

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We present a general framework for characterizing the ecological and societal consequences of biodiversity loss and applying it to the global avifauna. To investigate the potential ecological consequences of avian declines, we developed comprehensive databases of the status and functional roles of birds and a stochastic model for forecasting change. Overall, 21% of bird species are currently extinction-prone and 6.5% are functionally extinct, contributing negligibly to ecosystem processes. We show that a quarter or more of frugivorous and omnivorous species and one-third or more of herbivorous, piscivorous, and scavenger species are extinctionprone. Furthermore, our projections indicate that by 2100, 6 -14% of all bird species will be extinct, and 7-25% (28 -56% on oceanic islands) will be functionally extinct. Important ecosystem processes, particularly decomposition, pollination, and seed dispersal, will likely decline as a result.ecosystem services ͉ functional extinctions ͉ trophic cascades ͉ community disassembly ͉ ecological redundancy T he accelerating extinction of species (1) is the tip of the iceberg of global wildlife declines (2-5) that threaten to disrupt vital ecosystem processes and services (6). Although patterns of biodiversity loss have been explored extensively (7), their ecological implications have been the subject of few studies. These studies have been largely limited to temperate plants, microbes, and invertebrates (8). Yet ongoing reductions in vertebrate abundance and species richness are also likely to have far-reaching consequences, with diverse societal impacts, including plant extinctions , the loss of agricultural pest control, and the spread of disease. Birds are the best known major group of organisms (9), and the conservation status of all bird species have been assessed twice (1). Even though only 1.3% of bird species have gone extinct since 1500 (10), the global number of individual birds is estimated to have experienced a 20-25% reduction during the same period (5), indicating that avian populations and dependent ecosystem services are declining faster than species extinctions would indicate.We compiled and analyzed a database of the conservation status, distribution, and life histories of all extant (9,787) and historically extinct (129) bird species. We synthesized, in a second database, studies of the ecological roles of birds and outlined their contributions to the functioning of diverse natural and human-dominated ecosystems (Table 1, and Table 2, which is published as supporting information on the PNAS web site). To assess the potential effects of bird population declines and extinctions on ecosystem processes and services, we compare the current distribution of threatened birds across various functional groups, habitats, and regions to the distributions forecasted for 2100 based on three scenarios. The scenarios are projections based on the past and present distributions of threatened and nonthreatened birds. Our objective here is to address the ecological implications...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem consequences of bird declines

Şekercioğlu

Daily

Ehrlich

2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

703

488

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“…Attempts to do this suggest that the presence of a third species (predator or competitor) may stabilize some mutualistic interactions [3]. The persistence of assemblages of several pollinator species is important in the context of the conservation of biodiversity [36,37]. It has been shown that there is a relation between pollination and the plant reproductive success, as well as a relation between pollinator's visits and the flowers' nectar offer [33,34].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability and Fluctuations in a Three Species System: A Plant With Two Very Different Pollinators

Momo¹

2009

Appl Ecol Env Res

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Momo -Ure: Stability and fluctuations in a three species system: a plant with two very different pollinators - Abstract. We present a multi-species model of one plant with two nectivore pollinators. This system has mutualism between the plant and the pollinators, and competition for food between pollinators. Both pollinators are different: the large pollinator can consume all the nectar offered by the plant in each visit; it permits the genetic interchange between plants from different patches, so, it avoids self-fertilization problems. The small pollinator consumes only a fraction of the flower nectar but the seeds produced by its pollination are less successful. The model gives different dynamics depending on both the differences between the pollinators' growth rates and the inbreeding effect. Stronger oscillations occur when the growth rates are very different. Paradoxically, a high inbreeding causes an increment in populations. The three species system is biologically stable and the asymmetry between pollinator species results in different roles that enhance the global stability and persistence of the system.

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“…Data in O'Donnell and Dilks (1994) were presented as percentages by columns (birds); we multiplied up to counts, then calculated percentages by rows (plants), excluding plants with fewer than 10 observations. Our own data were obtained either by direct or video observation of groups of plants during the flowering or fruiting season (see Robertson et al 1999 for details). The data presented here are the proportion of visits made for site-species combinations.…”

Section: Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%