TY - JOUR

T1 - Plant diversity increases spatio-temporal niche complementarity in plant-pollinator interactions

AU - Venjakob, Christine

AU - Klein, Alexandra-Maria

AU - Ebeling, Anne

AU - Tscharntke, Teja

AU - Scherber, Christoph

PY - 2016/4/1

Y1 - 2016/4/1

N2 - Ongoing biodiversity decline impairs ecosystem processes, including pollination. Flower visitation, an important indicator of pollination services, is influenced by plant species richness. However, the spatio-temporal responses of different pollinator groups to plant species richness have not yet been analyzed experimentally. Here, we used an experimental plant species richness gradient to analyze plant-pollinator interactions with an unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. We observed four pollinator functional groups (honeybees, bumblebees, solitary bees, and hoverflies) in experimental plots at three different vegetation strata between sunrise and sunset. Visits were modified by plant species richness interacting with time and space. Furthermore, the complementarity of pollinator functional groups in space and time was stronger in species-rich mixtures. We conclude that high plant diversity should ensure stable pollination services, mediated via spatio-temporal niche complementarity in flower visitation. Declining plant diversity has been shown to affect ecosystem processes such as plant-pollinator interactions, but it is currently not known if or how spatio-temporal niche partitioning of pollinators is affected by plant biodiversity. In a grassland biodiversity experiment, where we manipulated plant species richness and studied spatio-temporal resource use of pollinators, we found that complementarity of pollinator groups in space and time was stronger in species-rich mixtures. Our study shows that high plant diversity may ensure stable pollination services due to increased pollinator complementarity.

AB - Ongoing biodiversity decline impairs ecosystem processes, including pollination. Flower visitation, an important indicator of pollination services, is influenced by plant species richness. However, the spatio-temporal responses of different pollinator groups to plant species richness have not yet been analyzed experimentally. Here, we used an experimental plant species richness gradient to analyze plant-pollinator interactions with an unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. We observed four pollinator functional groups (honeybees, bumblebees, solitary bees, and hoverflies) in experimental plots at three different vegetation strata between sunrise and sunset. Visits were modified by plant species richness interacting with time and space. Furthermore, the complementarity of pollinator functional groups in space and time was stronger in species-rich mixtures. We conclude that high plant diversity should ensure stable pollination services, mediated via spatio-temporal niche complementarity in flower visitation. Declining plant diversity has been shown to affect ecosystem processes such as plant-pollinator interactions, but it is currently not known if or how spatio-temporal niche partitioning of pollinators is affected by plant biodiversity. In a grassland biodiversity experiment, where we manipulated plant species richness and studied spatio-temporal resource use of pollinators, we found that complementarity of pollinator groups in space and time was stronger in species-rich mixtures. Our study shows that high plant diversity may ensure stable pollination services due to increased pollinator complementarity.

KW - Environmental niche

KW - Floral resource use

KW - Functional pollinator diversity

KW - Generalized additive models

KW - Jena Experiment

KW - Niche overlap

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - Environmental planning

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84960146194&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/ece3.2026

DO - 10.1002/ece3.2026

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 27069585

AN - SCOPUS:84960146194

VL - 6

SP - 2249

EP - 2261

JO - Ecology and Evolution

JF - Ecology and Evolution

SN - 2045-7758

IS - 8

ER -