Dominant pollinators drive non-random community assembly and shared flower colour patterns in daisy communities.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

As most plants rely on pollination for persistence in communities, pollination interactions should be important determinants of plant community assembly. Here, trait and phylogenetic null modelling approaches were combined with pollinator interaction networks to elucidate the processes structuring flower colour assembly patterns in Asteraceae communities in Namaqualand, South Africa.

Methods

Plant species were assigned to flower colour pattern categories (CPCs) that incorporate the complexity of the bulls-eye colour pattern, using pollinator vision models. Null models were used to assess whether daisy communities exhibit clustering (driven by filtering, facilitation or convergence) or overdispersion (driven by competitive exclusion or character displaceme

SUBMITTER: Kemp JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6344215 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature