Floral Color and Family Drive Contrasting Plant-Pollinator Responses to Nutrient Enrichment.

ABSTRACT: Nutrient enrichment has decreased the diversity and abundance of wildflower species, raising questions about whether nutrient enrichment can further decrease the diversity and abundance of pollinators that rely on wildflowers. Whether the effects of nutrient enrichment on plant-pollinator interactions differ by nutrient type remains an open question. Moreover, plant family and flower color, two core axes of pollination niches, may further mediate how wildflowers and their pollinators respond to nutrient enrichment. We tested these questions using a nutrient addition experiment replicated at three grasslands in California, a global plant diversity hotspot. We found that adding nitrogen increased the floral abundance of Asteraceae, while decreasing that of Fabaceae, Geraniaceae, Iridaceae, a

SUBMITTER: Nelson RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12432409 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature