The significance of reproduction-related traits for wet meadow species survival in a fragmented landscape

Abstract

Habitat fragmentation refers to the breaking of continuous habitat into multiple patches; these patches create less connected vegetation areas than before, which can result in smaller plant species populations due to, among other factors, limited pollinator visitation. Specific plant reproductive success traits related to pollination can filter species success in the remaining vegetation, affect their relative abundance and distribution and further shed light on relevant conservation efforts. The European grasslands comprise the most fragmented biome in the world. We explored whether wet meadow plant species are affected by connectivity degree between patches and if so, which traits related directly or indirectly to reproduction and pollination are responsible for their success degree. More particularly, we constructed a trait suite for each species which consisted of 15 interaction, phenotypic and propagation life-history traits mainly focusing on pollination process. Seven traits were revealed as important with flower colour, a categorical variable, flowering duration and rewards accessibility being the strongest predictors. Partial dependencies further revealed that, generally, the most successful species exhibited non-specialised life-history, phenotypic and interaction traits. These results imply that species with specific specialised traits require greater conservation attention. We further stress the importance of many different types of traits and ecological processes needed to be studied at the same time, to better understand what drives species success in not well-connected fragmented habitats or other stressful environments.