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Pollinator-mediated interactions between cultivated papaya and co-flowering plant species.

ABSTRACT: Many modern crop varieties rely on animal pollination to set fruit and seeds. Intensive crop plantations usually do not provide suitable habitats for pollinators so crop yield may depend on the surrounding vegetation to maintain pollination services. However, little is known about the effect of pollinator-mediated interactions among co-flowering plants on crop yield or the underlying mechanisms. Plant reproductive success is complex, involving several pre- and post-pollination events; however, the current literature has mainly focused on pre-pollination events in natural plant communities. We assessed pollinator sharing and the contribution to pollinator diet in a community of wild and cultivated plants that co-flower with a focal papaya plantation. In addition, we assessed heterospecific pollen transfer to the stigmatic loads of papaya and its effect on fruit and seed production. We found that papaya shared at least one pollinator species with the majority of the co-flowering plants. Despite this, heterospecific pollen transfer in cultivated papaya was low in open-pollinated flowers. Hand-pollination experiments suggest that heterospecific pollen transfer has no negative effect on fruit production or weight, but does reduce seed production. These results suggest that co-flowering plants offer valuable floral resources to pollinators that are shared with cultivated papaya with little or no cost in terms of heterospecific pollen transfer. Although HP reduced seed production, a reduced number of seeds per se are not negative, given that from an agronomic perspective the number of seeds does not affect the monetary value of the papaya fruit.

SUBMITTER: Badillo-Montano R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6342130 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Abstract Climate change is altering the world's ecosystems through direct effects of climate warming and precipitation changes but also indirectly through changes in biotic interactions. For instance, climate‐driven changes in plant and/or insect communities may alter plant–pollinator interactions, thereby influencing plant reproductive success and ultimately population dynamics of insect‐pollinated plants. To better understand how the importance of insect pollination for plant fruit set varies with climate, we experimentally excluded pollinators from the partly selfing keystone species Vaccinium myrtillus along elevational gradients in the forest‐tundra ecotone in central Norway. The study comprised three mountain areas, seven elevational gradients spanning from the climatically relatively benign birch forest to the colder alpine areas above the tree line, and 180 plots of 1 × 1 m, with experimental treatments allocated randomly to plots within sites. Within the experimental plots, we counted the number of flowers of V. myrtillus and counted and weighed all fruits, as well as seeds for a selection of fruits. Excluding pollinators resulted in lower fruit production, as well as reduced fruit and seed mass of V. myrtillus. In the alpine sites pollinator exclusion resulted in 84% fewer fruits, 50% lower fruit weight, and 50% lower seed weight compared to control conditions. Contrary to our expectations, the negative effect of pollinator exclusion was less pronounced in the forest compared to alpine sites, suggesting that the importance of insect pollination for seed production is lower at low elevations. Our findings indicate that the keystone species V. myrtillus is relatively robust to changes in the pollinator community in a warmer climate, thereby making it less vulnerable to climate‐driven changes in plant–pollinator interactions. Climate‐driven changes in plant and/or insect communities may alter plant–pollinator interactions in a warming world, thereby influencing plant reproductive success and ultimately population dynamics of insect‐pollinated plants. Our experimental study shows that the plant species Vaccinium myrtillus is more robust to changes in the pollinator community in warmer compared to colder climates. This suggests that this keystone species is less vulnerable to climate‐driven changes in plant–pollinator interactions than expected.

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Pollinator-mediated interactions between cultivated papaya and co-flowering plant species.

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