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Cheaters among pollinators: Nectar robbing and thieving vary spatiotemporally with floral traits in Afrotropical forests
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SYSNO ASEP 0578371 Document Type J - Journal Article R&D Document Type Journal Article Subsidiary J Článek ve WOS Title Cheaters among pollinators: Nectar robbing and thieving vary spatiotemporally with floral traits in Afrotropical forests Author(s) Sakhalkar, S. P. (CZ)
Janeček, Š. (CZ)
Klomberg, Y. (CZ)
Mertens, J. E. J. (CZ)
Hodeček, J. (CZ)
Tropek, Robert (BC-A) RID, ORCIDNumber of authors 6 Article number e4696 Source Title Ecosphere . - : Wiley - ISSN 2150-8925
Roč. 14, č. 11 (2023)Number of pages 15 s. Language eng - English Country US - United States Keywords Afrotropics ; cheaters ; floral traits Subject RIV EH - Ecology, Behaviour OECD category Ecology Method of publishing Open access Institutional support BC-A - RVO:60077344 UT WOS 001106085900001 EID SCOPUS 85176936899 DOI 10.1002/ecs2.4696 Annotation Nectar robbers and thieves are common antagonists in plant–pollinator communities, where they deplete nectar without pollinating flowers, substantially affecting plant reproduction. Nevertheless, little is known about the relative abundance of such nectar exploiters in communities, even though spatiotemporal changes in the frequencies of antagonists and mutualists can exert opposing selection pressures on the traits of the interacting species. Although these effects are highly dependent on the community context, interspecific interactions have almost exclusively been studied in interacting species pairs or single-plant studies. We hypothesized that flowers might experience a trade-off between filtering out robbers and thieves. We used an extensive dataset of video-recorded flower–visitor interactions along a complete elevational gradient in wet and dry seasons on Mount Cameroon to assess spatiotemporal changes in robbing and thieving associated with several floral traits. Of the 14,391 recorded visits, ~4.3% were from robbers (mostly bees and birds) and ~2.1% were from thieves (mostly flies, bees, and moths). Only 29 and 39 of the 194 studied plants were robbed and thieved, respectively. We found that specialized floral traits that prevented thieving (such as long floral tubes or spurs) made flowers susceptible to robbing, and vice versa. Cheating behavior was most frequent at mid-elevations, with more frequent robbing during the wet season and thieving during the dry season. These trends were linked to the local floral trait composition and the associations of cheating groups with specific floral traits. Our results suggest that the roles of antagonists and mutualists in shaping partner traits may vary across communities and that they deserve more attention in future studies of interspecific interactions. Workplace Biology Centre (since 2006) Contact Dana Hypšová, eje@eje.cz, Tel.: 387 775 214 Year of Publishing 2024 Electronic address https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.4696
Number of the records: 1