Pollination networks along the sea-inland gradient reveal landscape patterns of keystone plant species.
Sci Rep
; 8(1): 15221, 2018 10 15.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30323249
Linking the functional role of plants and pollinators in pollination networks to ecosystem functioning and resistance to perturbations can represent a valuable knowledge to implement sound conservation and monitoring programs. The aim of this study was to assess the resistance of pollination networks in coastal dune systems and to test whether pollination interactions have an explicit spatial configuration and whether this affect network resistance. To this aim, we placed six permanent 10 m-wide belt transects. Within each transect we placed five plots of 2 m x 2 m, in order to catch the different plant communities along the dune sequence. We monitored pollination interactions between plants and pollinators every 15 days during the overall flowering season. The resulting networks of pollination interactions showed a relatively low degree of resistance. However, they had a clear spatial configuration, with plant species differently contributing to the resistance of pollination networks occurring non-randomly from the seashore inland. Our results evidenced that beside contributing to the creation and maintenance of dune ridges, thereby protecting inland communities from environmental disturbance, plant species of drift line and shifting dune communities have also a crucial function in conferring resistance to coastal dune pollination networks.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Monitoreo del Ambiente
/
Ecosistema
/
Fenómenos Fisiológicos de las Plantas
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Polinización
Límite:
Animals
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Sci Rep
Año:
2018
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Italia
Pais de publicación:
Reino Unido