Effects of native pollinator specialization, selfcompatibility and flowering duration of European plant species on their invasiveness elsewhere

Chrobock, Thomas; Weiner, Christiane N.; Werner, Michael; Blüthgen, Nico; Fischer, Markus; van Kleunen, Mark (2013). Effects of native pollinator specialization, selfcompatibility and flowering duration of European plant species on their invasiveness elsewhere. Journal of Ecology, 101(4), pp. 916-923. Oxford: Blackwell 10.1111/1365-2745.12107

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1. When entomophilous plants are introduced to a new region, they may leave behind their usual pollinators. In particular, plant species with specialized pollination may then be less likely to establish and spread (i.e. become invasive). Moreover, other reproductive characteristics such as self-compatibility and flowering duration may also affect invasion success.
2. Here, we specifically asked whether plant species' specialization towards pollinator species and families, respectively, as measured in the native range, self-compatibility, flowering duration and their interactions are related to the degree of invasion (i.e. a measure of regional abundance) in non-native regions.
3. We used plant–pollinator interaction data from 119 German grassland sites to calculate unbiased indices of plant specialization towards pollinator species and families for 118 European plant species. We related these specialization indices, flowering duration, self-compatibility and their interactions to the degree of invasion of each species in seven large countries on four non-Eurasian continents.
4. In all models, plant species with long flowering durations had the highest degree of invasion. The best model included the specialization index based on pollinator species instead of the one based on pollinator families. Specialization towards pollinator species had a marginally significant positive effect on the degree of invasion in non-native regions for self-compatible, but not for self-incompatible species.
5. Synthesis. We showed that long flowering duration is related to the degree of invasion in other parts of the world, and a trend that pollinator generalization in the native range may interact with self-compatibility in determining the degree of invasion. Therefore, we conclude that such reproductive characteristics should be considered in risk assessment and management of introduced plant species.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS) > Plant Ecology
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS)

UniBE Contributor:

Chrobock, Thomas, Fischer, Markus, van Kleunen, Mark

Subjects:

500 Science > 580 Plants (Botany)
500 Science > 590 Animals (Zoology)

ISSN:

0022-0477

Publisher:

Blackwell

Language:

English

Submitter:

Peter Alfred von Ballmoos-Haas

Date Deposited:

14 Feb 2014 16:03

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 14:26

Publisher DOI:

10.1111/1365-2745.12107

Uncontrolled Keywords:

distribution, flowering period,generalization,introduced range, invasion ecology, plant invasion, plant-pollinator interaction, pollinators, self-fertilization, specialization

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.38683

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/38683

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