Niche complementarity among pollinators increases community-level plant reproductive success

Abstract

Declines in pollinator diversity and abundance have been reported across different regions, with implications for the reproductive success of plant species. However, research has focused primarily on pairwise plant-pollinator interactions, largely overlooking community-level dynamics. Here, we present one of the first efforts linking pollinator visitation to plant reproduction from a community-wide perspective using a well-replicated dataset encompassing 16 well-resolved plant-pollinator networks and data on reproductive success for 19 plant species from Mediterranean shrub ecosystems. We find that models including simple visitation metrics are sufficient to explain the variability in reproductive success observed. However, insights into the mechanisms through which differences in pollinator diversity translate into changes in reproductive success require additional information on network structure. Specifically, we find a positive effect of increasing niche complementarity between pollinators on plant reproductive success. This shows that maintaining communities with a diversity of species but also of functions is paramount to preserving natural ecosystems.