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Ecology letters
Dec, 2021;24 (12): 2648-2659.

Phenology and flowering overlap drive specialisation in plant-pollinator networks.

Paul Glaum, Thomas J Wood, Jonathan R Morris, Fernanda S Valdovinos
Author Information
  1. Paul Glaum: Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, USA. ORCID
  2. Thomas J Wood: Laboratory of Zoology, University of Mons, Mons, Belgium. ORCID
  3. Jonathan R Morris: School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. ORCID
  4. Fernanda S Valdovinos: Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California-Davis, Davis, California, USA. ORCID
PMID: 34532944 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13884

Abstract

Variation in dietary specialisation stems from fundamental interactions between species and their environment. Consequently, understanding the drivers of this variation is key to understanding ecological and evolutionary processes. Dietary specialisation in wild bees has received attention due to their close mutualistic dependence on plants, and because both groups are threatened by biodiversity loss. Many principles governing pollinator specialisation have been identified, but they remain largely unvalidated. Organismal phenology has the potential to structure realised specialisation by determining concurrent resource availability and pollinator foraging activity. We evaluate this principle using mechanistic models of adaptive foraging in pollinators within plant-pollinator networks. While temporal resource overlap has little impact on specialisation in pollinators with extended flight periods, reduced overlap increases specialisation as pollinator flight periods decrease. These results are corroborated empirically using pollen load data taken from bees with shorter and longer flight periods across environments with high and low temporal resource overlap.

Keywords

adaptive foraging diet specialisation phenology pollen seasonality temporal resource density

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Grants

  1. /F.R.S.-FNRS fellowship "Chargé de recherches"
  2. DEB-1834497/National Science Foundation

MeSH Term

Animals
Bees
Flowers
Magnoliopsida
Plants
Pollen
Pollination
Journal Article

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