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

Text chrobock fischer.pdf - Published Version Restricted to registered users only Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (218kB) | Request a copy

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.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

8 since deposited on 14 Feb 2014
0 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item