Vulnerability of bat–plant pollination interactions due to environmental change

Abstract

Plant–pollinator interactions are highly relevant to society as many crops important for humans are animal pollinated. However, changes in climate and land use may put such interacting patterns at risk by disrupting the occurrences between pollinators and the plants they pollinate. Here, we analyse how the co‐occurrence patterns between bat pollinators and 126 plant species they pollinate may be disrupted given changes in climate and land use, and we forecast relevant changes of the current bat–plant co‐occurrence distribution patterns for the near future. We predict under RCP8.5 21% of the territory will experience a loss of bat species richness, plants with C3 metabolism are predicted to reduce their area of distribution by 6.5%, CAM species are predicted to increase their potential area of distribution up to 1% and phanerophytes are predicted to have a 14% reduction in their distribution. The potential bat–plant interactions are predicted to decrease from an average of 47.1 co‐occurring bat–plant pairs in the present to 34.1 in the pessimistic scenario. The overall changes in suitable environmental conditions for bats and the plant species they pollinate may disrupt the current bat–plant co‐occurrence network and will likely put at risk the pollination services bat species provide.

The importance of pollination and dispersal syndromes for the conservation of Cerrado Rupestre fragments on ironstone outcrops immersed in an agricultural landscape

“…Plant-animal interactions are at the origin and maintenance of diversity and affect the functioning of ecosystems (Fuster and Traveset 2020). Furthermore, the pollination deficit can impact agriculture (Bauer and Wing 2010) and the dynamics of natural systems with variable importance ac- cording to the specialization of the interaction (Zamora-Gutierrez et al 2021). The elimination of disperser animals, on the other hand, can have negative effects on seedling recruitment, and understanding the plant/animal relationship is crucial in conservation programs and reforestation plans (Pérez-Méndez et al 2016;Török et al 2020).…”

The Critical Importance of Old World Fruit Bats for Healthy Ecosystems and Economies

“…Pteropodids locate flowers and fruits using olfaction primarily, but the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that they use as a guide could be altered by climate change (Yuan et al, 2009). However, while impacts of climate change are already being predicted for Neotropical pollination (e.g., Zamora-Gutiérrez et al, 2021) and seed dispersal (e.g., bird dispersal of a palm; Sales et al, 2021), potential effects on the ecological roles of pteropodids have not yet been studied.…”

The road to integrate climate change effects on land-use change in regional biodiversity models

“…temporal dynamics and coexistence of functional groups under land-use management in complex landscapes Lautenbach et al, 2017;Quétier et al, 2007), or the geographical range of focal species (e.g. Bocedi et al, 2014Bocedi et al, , 2021Faleiro et al, 2013;Sales et al, 2020;Zamora-Gutierrez et al, 2021). The partial effect of land use on biodiversity (i.e disentangling its effect from other disturbances such as climate change) has been considered in few studies.…”