What maintains variation in flower accessibility to pollinators in plant communities? A simulation study
Research Square (Research Square),
Journal Year:
2025,
Volume and Issue:
unknown
Published: April 11, 2025
Abstract
Background:
Flowers
in
natural
plant
communities
come
many
shapes.
Flowers
with
restrictive
morphologies
are
considered
complex,
because
only
a
subset
of
pollinators
able
to
learn
how
access
their
nectar
and
pollen.
Other
flowers
easily
accessible
diverse
pollinating
insects,
regarded
as
simple.
How
why
do
the
two
types
coexist
communities?
We
developed
spatially
explicit
evolutionary
simulation
framework
explore
this
question.
modeled
dynamics
(‘complex’
‘simple’)
that
differ
accessibility
simulated
food
rewards.
The
visited
by
population
pollinators,
which
initially
possess
heritable
variation
ability
forage
on
complex
flowers.
manipulated
pollinators’
flying
distances
flowers’
overall
density,
spatial
distribution,
starting
proportion
simple
recorded
resulting
flower
community,
learning
rates,
over
100
generations.
Results:
Complex
coexisted
under
all
conditions.
steady-state
community
always
contained
more
than
ones.
Complex
attained
higher
frequencies
when
were
highly
aggregated
aggregation
was
low.
Long-distance
fliers
evolved
abilities
short-distance
fliers.
Pollinator
abilities,
turn,
positively
correlated
frequency
Conclusions:
Frequencies
vary
among
communities.
Our
model
predicts
is
shaped
plants’
distribution
well
cognitive
pollinators.
generates
novel
testable
hypotheses
for
understanding
diversity
shapes
maintained
Language: Английский
What maintains variation in flower accessibility to pollinators in plant communities? A simulation study
BMC Ecology and Evolution,
Journal Year:
2025,
Volume and Issue:
25(1)
Published: May 9, 2025
Language: Английский