The spatial distribution of a hummingbird-pollinated plant is not strongly influenced by hummingbird abundance.

ABSTRACT:

Premise

Many angiosperms have evolved specialized systems that promote pollination by specific taxa. Therefore, plant distributions may be limited by the local abundance of their specialist pollinators. In eastern North America, Lobelia cardinalis is thought to be pollinated solely by Archilochus colubris, the only hummingbird species found in the region. Here we tested the hypothesis that the distribution of a plant species with specialized pollination is controlled by the range and abundance of its specialist pollinator.

Methods

We investigated the importance of A. colubris abundance, sourced from eBird, as a variable in a MaxEnt species distribution model of L. cardinalis using presence data from iNaturalist. We also compared hummingbird abundance between locations of L.

SUBMITTER: Coffey ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12094066 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature