The effects of pollinators and seed predators (Bruchidius koenigi Schilsky) on the breeding biology of Hedysarum criniferum Boiss

Abstract

Antagonists and mutualists both play important roles in a plant's reproductive fitness. In the present study, seed predator and pollinator effects were studied simultaneously in a patchily distributed legume, Hedysarum criniferum, in its natural habitat in the Irano‐Turanian region. This experiment examined whether a relationship existed between seed predator and pollinator effects on H. criniferum seed production, and the degree to which each of them impacts the plant's seed survival. To achieve this goal, the effects of seed predators and pollinators in an exclosure were separately and simultaneously evaluated, using a 2 × 2 factorial design, with 16–20 plants per treatment (n = 70) in four replications. The results show that the pollinators caused a 40‐fold increment in loments, a 59.3‐fold greater production in seeds and a 14‐fold increment in gross fecundity compared with their absence. Moreover, the seed predators infected on average 23% of the seeds. It was also observed that seed abortion, as well as the interaction of seed predator × pollinator effects on seed production, was insignificant. Despite the loss of some seeds caused by seed predators, the healthy seeds were sufficient to guarantee plant survival. Consequently, seed predators seem not to be the main factor in the patchy distribution of H. criniferum and, therefore, to develop plant habitats by seeds, it is more important to protect the pollinators than to devise any intervention to remove the predators. Bruchidius koenigi Schilsky and a description of its host plant are reported here for the first time from Iran.

The additive effects of pollinators and herbivores on the vine Bomarea salsilla (Alstroemeriaceae), remain spatially consistent in a fragmented forest

“…Nevertheless, plants may undergo a reduction in the strength of interactions with both types of animals, which in turn may promote an evolutionary pathway in which traits linked to them run along dissimilar lanes (i.e., non-correlated evolution). This fact may occur naturally (Abdala-Roberts et al, 2009;Shahbazi et al, 2017;Valdivia & Niemeyer, 2007) or due to human activities such as habitat fragmentation. Unfortunately, no previous work has stressed this latter possibility.…”