Generalisation and specialisation in hoverfly (Syrphidae) grassland pollen transport networks revealed by DNA metabarcoding.

ABSTRACT: Pollination by insects is a key ecosystem service and important to wider ecosystem function. Most species-level pollination networks studied have a generalised structure, with plants having several potential pollinators, and pollinators in turn visiting a number of different plant species. This is in apparent contrast to a plant's need for efficient conspecific pollen transfer. The aim of this study was to investigate the structure of pollen transport networks at three levels of biological hierarchy: community, species and individual. We did this using hoverflies in the genus Eristalis, a key group of non-Hymenopteran pollinators. We constructed pollen transport networks using DNA metabarcoding to identify pollen. We captured hoverflies in conservation grasslands in west Wales, UK, removed

SUBMITTER: Lucas A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6032873 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature