How does timing of flowering affect competition for pollinators, flower visitation and seed set in an early spring grassland plant?

ABSTRACT: Knowledge on how the timing of flowering is related to plant fitness and species interactions is crucial to understand consequences of phenological shifts as they occur under climate change. Early flowering plants may face advantages of low competition for pollinators and disadvantages of low pollinator abundances and unfavourable weather conditions. However, it is unknown how this trade-off changes over the season and how the timing affects reproductive success. On eight grasslands we recorded intra-seasonal changes in pollinators, co-flowering plants, weather conditions, flower visitation rates, floral longevity and seed set of Pulsatilla vulgaris. Although bee abundances and the number of pollinator-suitable hours were low at the beginning of the season, early flowers of P. vulgaris rec

SUBMITTER: Kehrberger S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6821694 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature