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Changes in plant community structure and decrease in floral resource availability lead to a high temporal β-diversity of plant–bee interactions

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Abstract

Biological communities are subject to spatiotemporal variations in community structure, i.e., species composition, richness, and abundance. Plant–pollinator interactions are affected by species composition and abundance, so that rapid changes in plant community structure can lead to critical impacts on plant–pollinator interactions at the community level. The extent of these impacts depends on how plants respond to different kinds of stressors, such as the disturbance caused by invading species. In this research, we conducted a before-and-after study to evaluate the potential effects of an invasive fast-growing alien grass species on the structure of a plant–pollinator interaction network. We described the changes in community structure and plant–pollinator interactions over two sampling periods, through the temporal β-diversity of plant and bee species, plant–bee interactions, and plant functional traits. Our results showed that changes in plant community composition (especially the plants in the network core) and decrease in plant species richness, as well as in floral resources availability impacted plant–pollinator interactions of a grassland community after the growth of a fast-growing alien grass species. These changes were accompanied by a decrease in plant–bee interaction diversity, and a high β-diversity of species interactions mainly due to interaction rewiring. However, we found no effect on the functional diversity of flowers. In conclusion, our study showed that a short-term change in plant species composition and floral resource abundance impacted plant–bee interactions, which markedly changed network structure and dynamics.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Antonio L. Castilho, Carine Emer, Jefferson Bugoni, Marcos Nogueira, Pedro Bergamo, Pietro K. Maruyama, two anonymous reviewers, and the Handling Editor Christina Mogren for critical reading and suggestions on the manuscript; Janet Reid for English editing and valuable suggestions. Ana Paula Fortuna and Eduardo Almeida for help in identification of plants and bees, respectively; and colleagues of the Laboratório de Ecologia da Polinização e Interações: LEPI, for their help during fieldwork and discussions. Luciano Ramos Cirne helped us with bee silhouettes. This study is part of L. Hachuy-Filho M.Sc. studies financed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brazil (CAPES), Finance Code 001. C. S. Ballarin Ph.D. studies are also funded by CAPES (Finance Code 001), and his undergraduate studies (during which most of this research was conducted) was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, Process Number 2017/27177-9).

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  1. Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Botânica), Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” - UNESP, Street Prof. Dr. Antonio Celso Wagner Zanin, nº 250, Mailbox: 510, Botucatu, São Paulo, CEP 18618-689, Brazil

    Leandro Hachuy-Filho, Caio S. Ballarin & Felipe W. Amorim

  2. Laboratório de Ecologia da Polinização e Interações - LEPI, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” - UNESP, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil

    Leandro Hachuy-Filho, Caio S. Ballarin & Felipe W. Amorim

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  1. Leandro Hachuy-Filho
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Hachuy-Filho, L., Ballarin, C.S. & Amorim, F.W. Changes in plant community structure and decrease in floral resource availability lead to a high temporal β-diversity of plant–bee interactions. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 14, 571–583 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-020-09774-5

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