DNA metabarcoding data unveils invisible pollination networks.

ABSTRACT: Animal pollination, essential for both ecological services and ecosystem functioning, is threatened by ongoing global changes. New methodologies to decipher their effects on pollinator composition to ecosystem health are urgently required. We compare the main structural parameters of pollination networks based on DNA metabarcoding data with networks based on direct observations of insect visits to plants at three resolution levels. By detecting numerous additional hidden interactions, metabarcoding data largely alters the properties of the pollination networks compared to visit surveys. Molecular data shows that pollinators are much more generalist than expected from visit surveys. However, pollinator species were composed of relatively specialized individuals and formed functional groups

SUBMITTER: Pornon A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5715002 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature