Flower-visitor communities of an arcto-alpine plant– global patterns in species richness, phylogenetic diversity and ecological functioningстатьяИсследовательская статья
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Аннотация:Abstract
Pollination is an ecosystem function of global importance. Yet, who visits the flower
of specific plants, how the composition of these visitors varies in space and time and
how such variation translates into pollination services are hard to establish. The use
of DNA barcodes allows us to address ecological patterns involving thousands of taxa
that are difficult to identify. To clarify the regional variation in the visitor community
of a widespread flower resource, we compared the composition of the arthropod
community visiting species in the genus Dryas (mountain avens, family Rosaceae),
throughout Arctic and high‐alpine areas. At each of 15 sites, we sampled Dryas visi‐
tors with 100 sticky flower mimics and identified specimens to Barcode Index
Numbers (BINs) using a partial sequence of the mitochondrial COI gene. As a measure
of ecosystem functioning, we quantified variation in the seed set of Dryas. To test for
an association between phylogenetic and functional diversity, we characterized the
structure of local visitor communities with both taxonomic and phylogenetic descrip‐
tors. In total, we detected 1,360 different BINs, dominated by Diptera and
Hymenoptera. The richness of visitors at each site appeared to be driven by local
temperature and precipitation. Phylogeographic structure seemed reflective of geo‐
logical history and mirrored trans‐Arctic patterns detected in plants. Seed set success
varied widely among sites, with little variation attributable to pollinator species rich‐
ness. This pattern suggests idiosyncratic associations, with function dominated by
few and potentially different taxa at each site. Taken together, our findings illustrate
the role of post‐glacial history in the assembly of flower‐visitor communities in the
Arctic and offer insights for understanding how diversity translates into ecosystem
functioning.