Forecasting pollination declines through DNA barcoding: the potential contributions of macroecological and macroevolutionary scales of inquiry

Abstract

SummaryWhile pollinators are widely acknowledged as important contributors to seed production in plant communities, we do not yet have a good understanding of the importance of pollinator specialists for this ecosystem service. Determination of the prevalence of pollinator specialists is often hindered by the occurrence of cryptic species and the limitations of observational data on pollinator visitation rates, two areas where DNA barcoding of pollinators and pollen can be useful. Further, the demonstrated adequacy of pollen DNA barcoding from historical records offers opportunities to observe the effects of pollinator loss over longer timescales, and phylogenetic approaches can elucidate the historical rates of extinction of specialist lineages. In this Viewpoint article, we review how advances in DNA barcoding and metabarcoding of plants and pollinators have brought important developments to our understanding of specialization in plant-pollinator interactions. We then put forth several lines of inquiry that we feel are especially promising for providing insight on changes in plant-pollinator interactions over space and time. Obtaining estimates of the effects of reductions in specialists will contribute to forecasting the loss of ecosystem services that will accompany the erosion of plant and pollinator diversity.

Studying Ecosystems With DNA Metabarcoding: Lessons From Biomonitoring of Aquatic Macroinvertebrates

“…Metabarcoding is also being used for increasingly novel applications, such as the study of trophic interactions, either through direct analyses of gut contents, or via the reconstruction of networks of multi-trophic assemblages (Bohan et al, 2017). Other fields of research such as metacommunity theory (Miller et al, 2018), and ecosystem function relationships (Vamosi et al, 2017) also benefit where previously the statistical relationships were obscured by coarse taxonomic resolution. These applications could generate substantial added value to existing or future biomonitoring programs (Compson et al, 2018).…”

Pollinator specialization increases with a decrease in a mass‐flowering plant in networks inferred from DNA metabarcoding

“…We investigated pollinator food niches and networks by using DNA metabarcoding data that were obtained in a previous study at the site (Pornon, Andalo, Burrus, & Escaravage, 2017). Metabarcoding has already been shown in several studies to successfully identify plant taxa in pollen mixtures (Cornman, Otto, Iwanowicz, & Pettis, 2015;Galimberti et al, 2014;Galliot et al, 2017;Lucas et al, 2018;Macgregor et al, 2019;Pornon et al, 2016;Richardson et al, 2019) at a higher taxonomic resolution than microscopy (Vamosi, Gong, Adamowicz, & Packer, 2017). A recent meta-analysis (Lamb et al, 2018) concluded on a significant quantitative positive linear relationship between the proportion of sequence reads and the proportion of species in original mixtures from very different origins (stomach contents, feces, airborne pollen, etc.).…”

DNA barcoding herbaceous and woody plant species at a subalpine forest dynamics plot in Southwest China

“…Once established, such databases can become a valuable toolkit for molecular ecologists to identify plant material such as pollen, seeds, seedlings, roots, and even bark fragments (Liu et al, 2018). DNA barcoding is now becoming essential for a broad range of ecological applications, such as biodiversity assessments (Lahaye et al, 2008;Yoccoz et al, 2012), establishing pollination networks (Bell et al, 2016;Vamosi, Gong, Adamowicz & Packer, 2017), diet analysis (Kartzinel et al, 2015;Valentini, Pompanon & Taberlet, 2009), and determining the mechanisms underlying community assembly (Kress et al, 2009(Kress et al, , 2010Pei et al, 2011).…”