Competition with wind-pollinated plant species alters floral traits of insect-pollinated plant species.
Plant traits related to attractiveness to pollinators (e.g. flowers and nectar) can be sensitive to abiotic or biotic conditions. Soil nutrient availability, as well as interactions among insect-pollinated plants species, can induce changes in flower and nectar production. However, further investigations are needed to determine the impact of interactions between insect-pollinated species and abiotically pollinated species on such floral traits, especially floral rewards. We carried out a pot experiment in which three insect-pollinated plant species were grown in binary mixtures with four wind-pollinated plant species, differing in their competitive ability. Along the flowering period, we measured floral traits of the insect-pollinated species involved in attractiveness to pollinators (i.e. floral display size, flower size, daily and total 1) flower production, 2) nectar volume, 3) amount of sucrose allocated to nectar). Final plant biomass was measured to quantify competitive interactions. For two out of three insect-pollinated species, we found that the presence of a wind-pollinated species can negatively impact floral traits involved in attractiveness to pollinators. This effect was stronger with wind-pollinated species that induced stronger competitive interactions. These results stress the importance of studying the whole plant community (and not just the insect-pollinated plant community) when working on plant-pollinator interactions.
CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 6, INRA IRD, Univ Paris Diderot Paris 7, UPEC, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences - Paris, UMR 7618, 7 Quai St Bernard, F-75005 Paris France.
Floriane
F
Flacher
Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 6, CNRS, INRA IRD, Univ Paris Diderot Paris 7, UPEC, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences - Paris, UMR 7618, 7 Quai St Bernard, F-75005 Paris France.
Xavier
X
Raynaud
CNRS, UMS 3194 CEREEP-Ecotron Ile de France, F-77140 Saint-Pierre-lès-Nemours.
Amandine
A
Hansart
Univ Paris Diderot Paris 7, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 6, CNRS, INRA IRD, UPEC, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences - Paris, UMR 7618, 7 Quai St Bernard, F-75005 Paris France.
Eric
E
Motard
Univ Paris Diderot Paris 7, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 6, CNRS, INRA IRD, UPEC, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences - Paris, UMR 7618, 7 Quai St Bernard, F-75005 Paris France.
Isabelle
I
Dajoz
D000818:Animals; D003163:Competitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D035264:Flowers / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D007313:Insecta / Q000502:physiology*; D054817:Pollination / Q000502:physiology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014919:Wind