Pollination networks along the sea-inland gradient reveal landscape patterns of keystone plant species.

ABSTRACT: Linking the functional role of plants and pollinators in pollination networks to ecosystem functioning and resistance to perturbations can represent a valuable knowledge to implement sound conservation and monitoring programs. The aim of this study was to assess the resistance of pollination networks in coastal dune systems and to test whether pollination interactions have an explicit spatial configuration and whether this affect network resistance. To this aim, we placed six permanent 10 m-wide belt transects. Within each transect we placed five plots of 2 m x 2 m, in order to catch the different plant communities along the dune sequence. We monitored pollination interactions between plants and pollinators every 15 days during the overall flowering season. The resulting networks of pollin

SUBMITTER: Fantinato E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6189214 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature