Heterospecific pollen transfer by insect pollinators has the potential to drive inter-species competition between flowering plants. This phenomenon may newly arise in a region if insect pollinator or flowering plant populations change. An agent-based simulation is presented to assess the potential impact of heterospecific pollen transfer by insects on two co-flowering plant species within an environment consisting of a shared central region and species-specific refugia. Where heterospecific pollen asymmetrically suppressed the reproduction of one competitor, the pollen recipient was rapidly ousted from shared regions. If pollinators made deep, repeated, forays into and out of plant refugia, the clogged species was even unseated from its own refugium. When heterospecific pollen symmetrically suppressed plant reproduction, the same effects were observed, but with one or the other species excluded at random by the pollen clogging mediated interaction. We conclude that both symmetrical and asymmetrical heterospecific pollen transfer may be important elements of inter-species dynamics. In particular, our simulation shows pollen and pollinator visits lost to heterospecific flowers may not always be wasted from the producer’s standpoint. Instead, heterospecific pollen delivery may convey a competitive advantage even when the recipient has a refuge safe from direct invasion. This is possible because the pollen producer may use pollinators to clog a competitor’s stigmas in a refugium without entering into competition there for space, nutrients, light, pollinators, or other resources. Consequently, the evolution of plant signals to promote pollinator constancy may not be the only effective strategy in inter-species competition.

昆虫传粉者转移异种花粉有可能推动开花植物之间的种间竞争。如果昆虫授粉或开花植物种群发生变化，则该现象可能会在该地区重新出现。提出了一种基于代理的模拟方法，以评估昆虫异种花粉转移对由共享中心区域和物种特异性避难所组成的环境中的两种共同开花植物物种的潜在影响。当异种花粉不对称地抑制一个竞争者的繁殖时，花粉接受者被迅速赶出共享区域。如果授粉者深入，反复地进出植物保护区，那么被堵塞的物种甚至可以从自己的避难所中消失。当异种花粉对称地抑制植物繁殖时，观察到相同的效果，但其中一个或另一个物种由于花粉堵塞介导的相互作用而被随机排除。我们得出结论，对称和不对称的异种花粉转移可能是物种间动力学的重要因素。尤其是，我们的模拟显示，从生产者的角度来看，花粉和授粉者对异种花的访问可能并不总是被浪费。相反，即使受体具有避开直接入侵的庇护所，异种花粉递送也可以传达竞争优势。这是可能的，因为花粉生产商可能会使用授粉剂在避难所中堵塞竞争对手的柱头，而不会在那里争夺空间，养分，光，授粉剂或其他资源。所以，