Invasion status and phylogenetic relatedness predict cost of heterospecific pollen receipt: implications for native biodiversity decline

AbstractPollinator-mediated plant–plant interactions have traditionally been viewed within the competition paradigm. However, facilitation via pollinator sharing might be the rule rather than the exception in harsh environments. Moreover, plant diversity could be playing a key role in fostering pollinator-mediated facilitation. Yet, the facilitative effect of plant diversity on pollination remains poorly understood, especially under natural conditions. By examining a total of 9371 stigmas of 88 species from nine high-Andean communities in NW Patagonia, we explored the prevalent sign of the relation between conspecific pollen receipt and heterospecific pollen diversity, and assessed whether the incidence of different outcomes varies with altitude and whether pollen receipt relates to plant diversity. Conspecific pollen receipt increased with heterospecific pollen diversity on stigmas. In all communities, species showed either positive or neutral but never negative relations between the number of heterospecific pollen donor species and conspecific pollen receipt. The incidence of species showing positive relations increased with altitude. Finally, stigmas collected from communities with more co-flowering species had richer heterospecific pollen loads and higher abundance of conspecific pollen grains. Our findings suggest that plant diversity enhances pollination success in high-Andean plant communities. This study emphasizes the importance of plant diversity in fostering indirect plant–plant facilitative interactions in alpine environments, which could promote species coexistence and biodiversity maintenance.

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Global geographic patterns of heterospecific pollen receipt help uncover potential ecological and evolutionary impacts across plant communities worldwide

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-019-44626-0 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Gerardo Arceo-Gómez ◽

Amelia Schroeder ◽

Cristopher Albor ◽

Tia-Lynn Ashman ◽

Tiffany M. Knight ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Plant Communities ◽

Heterospecific Pollen ◽

Geographic Patterns ◽

Pollen Receipt

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Effect of heterospecific pollen deposition on pollen tube growth depends on the phylogenetic relatedness between donor and recipient

AoB Plants ◽

10.1093/aobpla/plaa016 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Nathália Susin Streher ◽

Pedro Joaquim Bergamo ◽

Tia-Lynn Ashman ◽

Marina Wolowski ◽

Marlies Sazima

Keyword(s):

Pollen Tube ◽

Plant Species ◽

Flowering Plant ◽

Pollen Deposition ◽

Phylogenetic Relatedness ◽

Pollination Success ◽

Heterospecific Pollen ◽

Flowering Plant Species ◽

Heterospecific Pollen Deposition ◽

Pollen Effect

Abstract Co-flowering plant species may interact via pollinators leading to heterospecific pollen transfer with consequences for plant reproduction. What determines the severity of heterospecific pollen effect on conspecific pollen performance is unclear, but it may depend on the phylogenetic relatedness of the interactors (pollen donors and recipient). The heterospecific pollen effect might also depend on the extent to which plants are exposed to heterospecific pollen over ecological or evolutionary timescales. For instance, generalist-pollinated plant species might tolerate heterospecific pollen more than specialists. Here, we tested whether heterospecific pollen effects are stronger between closely related species than phylogenetically distant ones in a tropical highland community. Then, based on these results, we determined whether responses to heterospecific pollen were stronger in generalized vs. specialized plant species. We applied heterospecific pollen from close (congeneric) or distant (different families) donors alone or with conspecific pollen on stigmas of three recipient species (one generalist, Sisyrinchium wettsteinii; and two specialists, Fuchsia campos-portoi and Fuchsia regia) and scored pollen tube performance in styles. In all species, pollen from closely related donors grew pollen tubes to the base of the style indicating a high potential to interfere with seed set. Conversely, distantly related heterospecific pollen had no effect on either specialist Fuchsia species, whereas enhanced performance of conspecific pollen was observed in generalist S. wettsteinii. The strong effect of phylogenetic relatedness of donor and recipient might have obscured the role of pollination specialization, at least for the three species examined here. Therefore, phylogenetic relatedness mediated the effect of heterospecific pollen on post-pollination success, with possible consequences for reproductive trait evolution and community assembly for further studies to explore.

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