Insect-flower interaction network structure is resilient to a temporary pulse of floral resources from invasive Rhododendron ponticum.

ABSTRACT: Invasive alien plants can compete with native plants for resources, and may ultimately decrease native plant diversity and/or abundance in invaded sites. This could have consequences for native mutualistic interactions, such as pollination. Although invasive plants often become highly connected in plant-pollinator interaction networks, in temperate climates they usually only flower for part of the season. Unless sufficient alternative plants flower outside this period, whole-season floral resources may be reduced by invasion. We hypothesized that the cessation of flowering of a dominant invasive plant would lead to dramatic, seasonal compositional changes in plant-pollinator communities, and subsequent changes in network structure. We investigated variation in floral resources, flower-visi

SUBMITTER: Tiedeken EJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4357452 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature