Plant traits moderate pollen limitation of introduced and native plants: a phylogenetic meta-analysis of global scale

Role of plant functional traits in the invasion success: analysis of nine species of Asteraceae

Various attributes are hypothesized to facilitate the dominance of an invasive species in non-native geographical and ecological regimes. To explore the characteristic invasive attributes of the family Asteraceae, a comparative study was conducted among nine species of this family, co-occurring in the western Himalayan region. Based on their nativity and invasion status, the species were categorized as "Invasive", "Naturalized", and "Native". Fifteen plant functional traits, strongly linked with invasion, were examined in the test species. The analyses revealed a strong dissimilarity between all the plant functional traits (except leaf carbon [Leaf C]) represented by "Invasive" and "Native" categories and most of the traits (except leaf area [LA], leaf nitrogen [Leaf N], Leaf C, and leaf carbon-nitrogen ratio [C: N]) represented by the "Naturalized" and "Native" categories. Similarly, "Invasive" and "Naturalized" categories also varied significantly for most of the traits (except Leaf N, Leaf C, capitula per m² population [Cm²], seeds per capitula [Scapitula], and seed mass). Invasive species are characterized by high LA, specific leaf area [SLA] and germination, and low C:N and leaf construction costs [LCC]. Most of the traits represented by native species justify their non-invasive behavior; whereas the naturalized species, despite having better size metrics (plant height), resource investment strategy (aboveground non-reproductive biomass [BNR], and aboveground reproductive biomass [BR]), and reproductive output (capitula per individual plant [Cplant], and seeds per individual plant [Splant]) failed to invade, which implies that the role of these functional aspects in imparting invasion potential to a species is not consistent in all the ecosystems and/or phylogenetic groups. Results of PCA revealed that trait divergence plays a more imperative role in invasion success than naturalization in the species of the family Asteraceae. The present study is intended to refine the pre-generalized invasion concepts associated with family Asteraceae to ensure more accurate identification of the potential invaders and better management of the existing ones.

Color-advertising strategies of invasive plants through the bee eye

Invasive plants represent a significant global challenge as they compete with native plants for limited resources such as space, nutrients and pollinators. Here, we focused on four invasive species that are widely spread in the French Pyrenees, Buddleja davidii, Reynoutria japonica, Spiraea japonica and Impatiens glandulifera, and analyzed their visual advertisement signals with respect to those displayed by their surrounding native species using a perceptual approach based on the neural mechanisms of bee vision given that bees are regular pollinators of these plants. We collected 543 spectral reflections from the 4 invasive species, and 66 native species and estimated achromatic and chromatic similarities to the bee eye. R. japonica, S. japonica and B. davidii were inconspicuous against the foliage background and could be hardly discriminated in terms of color from their surrounding native plants. These characteristics promote generalization, potentially attracting pollinators foraging on similar native species. Two morphs of I. glandulifera were both highly salient in chromatic and achromatic terms and different from their surrounding native species. This distinctive identity facilitates detection and learning in association with rich nectar. While visual signals are not the only sensory cue accounting for invasive-plant success, our study reveals new elements for understanding biological invasion processes from the perspective of pollinator perceptual processes.

Revealing the intricate microcosm: Advancing invasive species pollen analysis through scanning microscopy of ultra sculpture

Micromorphological visualization of plant surface peculiarities provides valuable characters for the precise identification of plant species. Invasive alien species, introduced outside their native range, pose significant ecological, and health challenges. This study focuses on micromorphological investigations of selected invasive plant species belonging to the families Amaranthaceae, Asteraceae, Moraceae, Crassulaceae, Cannabaceae, Fabaceae, Commelinaceae, and Oxalidaceae. The study employs scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to analyze the species micromorphology of pollen structure in depth to characterize the sculpturing patterns. Additionally, the study examines the pollen characteristics of these invasive plants, including shape, size, and fertility, along with exine sculpturing. The maximum polar diameter was observed for Senna tora (41.2 μm). The spines in Achillea fragrantissima were measured to have dimensions of approximately 1.91 μm in length and 2.11 μm in width. The findings shed light on the allergy-causing potential of these invasive species, providing crucial information for accurate identification and effective management strategies to safeguard the indigenous flora of the region. The study contributes to the knowledge base for botanists, taxonomists, policy makers, climate experts, and biodiversity specialists. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Integrating SEM to analyze the pollen of invasive species. Unveiling pollen micromorphology of invasive species. Exploring the microscopic realm of invasive pollen to accurately identify the species.

Linking pollen limitation and seed dispersal effectiveness

Seed production and dispersal are crucial ecological processes impacting plant demography, species distributions and community assembly. Plant-animal interactions commonly mediate both seed production and seed dispersal, but current research often examines pollination and seed dispersal separately, which hinders our understanding of how pollination services affect downstream dispersal services. To fill this gap, we propose a conceptual framework exploring how pollen limitation can impact the effectiveness of seed dispersal for endozoochorous and myrmecochorous plant species. We summarize the quantitative and qualitative effects of pollen limitation on plant reproduction and use Optimal Foraging Theory to predict its impact on the foraging behaviour of seed dispersers. In doing so, we offer a new framework that poses numerous hypotheses and empirical tests to investigate links between pollen limitation and seed dispersal effectiveness and, consequently, post-dispersal ecological processes occurring at different levels of biological organization. Finally, considering the importance of pollination and seed dispersal outcomes to plant eco-evolutionary dynamics, we discussed the implications of our framework for future studies exploring the demographic and evolutionary impacts of pollen limitation for animal-dispersed plants.

Quantification of pollen viability in Lantana camara by digital holographic microscopy

Pollen grains represent the male gametes of seed plants and their viability is critical for sexual reproduction in the plant life cycle. Palynology and viability studies have traditionally been used to address a range of botanical, ecological and geological questions, but recent work has revealed the importance of pollen viability in invasion biology as well. Here, we report an efficient visual method for assessing the viability of pollen using digital holographic microscopy (DHM). Imaging data reveal that quantitative phase information provided by the technique can be correlated with viability as indicated by the outcome of the colorimetric test. We successfully test this method on pollen grains of Lantana camara, a well-known alien invasive plant in the tropical world. Our results show that pollen viability may be assessed accurately without the usual staining procedure and suggest potential applications of the DHM methodology to a number of emerging areas in plant science.

Weedy and seedy: the rapid evolution of life-history characteristics in an introduced daisy

Despite the importance of life-history characteristics in determining a species' success, we still lack basic information about some fundamental life-history elements found across the life cycle of introduced plants. Our study assesses rapid evolutionary divergence in life-history characteristics of the beach daisy Arctotheca populifolia by comparing introduced Australian and source South African plants and measuring eight key variables including seed mass, germination, reproductive output and survival. This is the first study that compares the life history of an introduced plant species with its single original source population, providing a precise and powerful method for detecting evolutionary divergence. We found that introduced A. populifolia has evolved a suite of weedy life-history characteristics in less than 90 years: the introduced plants use a live-fast die-young strategy of germination and survival and produce significantly more inflorescences and more seeds that germinate faster. This knowledge adds to the remarkable data that we already have on the rapid evolutionary divergence occurring in the morphology, physiology and defence of this introduced plant and highlights the speed and scope of evolutionary divergence possible in plants. To fully understand and manage the future of our plant species, we must consider their potential for ongoing change in key aspects of life history.

Advancing the missed mutualist hypothesis, the under-appreciated twin of the enemy release hypothesis

Introduced species often benefit from escaping their enemies when they are transported to a new range, an idea commonly expressed as the enemy release hypothesis. However, species might shed mutualists as well as enemies when they colonize a new range. Loss of mutualists might reduce the success of introduced populations, or even cause failure to establish. We provide the first quantitative synthesis testing this natural but often overlooked parallel of the enemy release hypothesis, which is known as the missed mutualist hypothesis. Meta-analysis showed that plants interact with 1.9 times more mutualist species, and have 2.3 times more interactions with mutualists per unit time in their native range than in their introduced range. Species may mitigate the negative effects of missed mutualists. For instance, selection arising from missed mutualists could cause introduced species to evolve either to facilitate interactions with a new suite of species or to exist without mutualisms. Just as enemy release can allow introduced populations to redirect energy from defence to growth, potentially evolving increased competitive ability, species that shift to strategies without mutualists may be able to reallocate energy from mutualism toward increased competitive ability or seed production. The missed mutualist hypothesis advances understanding of the selective forces and filters that act on plant species in the early stages of introduction and establishment and thus could inform the management of introduced species.

Does pollen limitation limit plant ranges? Evidence and implications

Sexual reproduction often declines towards range edges, reducing fitness, dispersal and adaptive potential. For plants, sexual reproduction is frequently limited by inadequate pollination. While case studies show that pollen limitation can limit plant distributions, the extent to which pollination commonly declines towards plant range edges is unknown. Here, we use global databases of pollen-supplementation experiments and plant occurrence data to test whether pollen limitation increases towards plant range edges, using a phylogenetically controlled meta-analysis. While there was significant pollen limitation across studies, we found little evidence that pollen limitation increases towards plant range edges. Pollen limitation was not stronger towards the tropics, nor at species' equatorward versus poleward range limits. Meta-analysis results are consistent with results from targeted experiments, in which pollen limitation increased significantly towards only 14% of 14 plant range edges, suggesting that pollination contributes to range limits less often than do other interactions. Together, these results suggest pollination is one of the rich variety of potential ecological factors that can contribute to range limits, rather than a generally important constraint on plant distributions. This article is part of the theme issue 'Species' ranges in the face of changing environments (part I)'.

Pollinator-mediated facilitation alleviates pollen limitation in a plant-hummingbird network

Facilitation and competition among plants sharing pollinators have contrasting consequences for plant fitness. However, it is unclear whether pollinator-mediated facilitation and competition may affect pollen limitation (potential contribution of pollination to fitness) in pollination networks. Here, we investigated how pollinator sharing affects pollen limitation in a tropical hummingbird-pollinated community marked by facilitation. We employed indices describing how much a plant species potentially affects the pollination of other co-flowering species through shared pollinators (acting degree) and is affected by other co-flowering species (target degree) within the plant-hummingbird network. Since facilitation often increases pollination quantity but not necessarily quality, we expected both indices to be associated with reductions in pollen limitation estimates that depend on pollination quantity (fruit set and seed number) rather than estimates more strictly related to quality (seed weight and germination). We found that both indices were associated with reductions in pollen limitation only for seed weight and germination. Thus, facilitation occurred via qualitative estimates of pollen limitation. Our results suggest that facilitation may enhance plant fitness estimates even if quantitative components of plant fecundity are already saturated. Overall, we showed that pollinator-mediated indirect effects in a multispecies context are important drivers of plant fitness estimates with consequences for coexistence in diverse communities.

Widespread vulnerability of flowering plant seed production to pollinator declines

Despite evidence of pollinator declines from many regions across the globe, the threat this poses to plant populations is not clear because plants can often produce seeds without animal pollinators. Here, we quantify pollinator contribution to seed production by comparing fertility in the presence versus the absence of pollinators for a global dataset of 1174 plant species. We estimate that, without pollinators, a third of flowering plant species would produce no seeds and half would suffer an 80% or more reduction in fertility. Pollinator contribution to plant reproduction is higher in plants with tree growth form, multiple reproductive episodes, more specialized pollination systems, and tropical distributions, making these groups especially vulnerable to reduced service from pollinators. These results suggest that, without mitigating efforts, pollinator declines have the potential to reduce reproduction for most plant species, increasing the risk of population declines.

Breeding systems of naturalized versus indigenous species provide support for Baker's law on Pohnpei island

The factors that facilitate successful colonization of islands should be especially evident where the establishment filter is strongest. Colonizers of small, remote oceanic islands should be initially rare, extremely mate-limited and often without pollinators. Hence, plant communities on such islands should reflect an establishment history in which young 'naturalized' species are most likely to display self-compatibility and autonomous selfing, whereas 'indigenous' species may exhibit more diverse reproductive strategies. To test this prediction, we characterized breeding systems of 28 species on Pohnpei, in the Federated States of Micronesia, a group of remote Pacific islands that are considered a global biodiversity hotspot. Three families with both naturalized and indigenous species were selected-Fabaceae, Malvaceae and Melastomataceae. Measurements included field observations of dichogamy/herkogamy and floral attraction traits, pollen:ovule (P:O) ratios and experimental hand-pollinations for self-compatibility and pollen limitation. Phylogenetic generalized least squares analyses tested for trait correlations between naturalized and indigenous species. Flowers of all 28 species were bisexual, and pollinator attraction features were common. Pollen:ovule ratios ranged from 9 to 557 (median = 87), and all 11 hand-pollinated species were self-compatible. All species had >5 ovules and <3500 pollen grains per flower. Indigenous species did not differ significantly from naturalized species for any trait. There is a dearth of data from remote islands bearing on the question of establishment history. In this study, we inferred all species to have some degree of autogamy and indigenous species were no more likely than naturalized species to display outcrossing mechanisms. On Pohnpei, high ovule numbers, and the inaccessibility of wind pollination and obligate outcrossing strategies, reflect the importance of retaining reproductive assurance mechanisms in the face of pollinator uncertainty.

Heterospecific pollination by an invasive congener threatens the native American bittersweet, Celastrus scandens

Invasive plants have the potential to interfere with native species’ reproductive success through a number of mechanisms, including heterospecific pollination and hybridization. This study investigated reproductive interactions between a native North American woody vine (American bittersweet, Celastrus scandens) and an introduced congener (oriental bittersweet, C. orbiculatus). The decline of C. scandens in the eastern portion of its range is coincident with the introduction and spread of C. orbiculatus, and the two species are known to hybridize. The relationship between proximity and floral production of conspecific and heterospecific males on fertilization and hybridization rates was measured at a field site in northwestern Indiana, USA where both species occur and reproduce. We found that the invasive vine had an extreme advantage in both male and female floral production, producing nearly 200 times more flowers per staminate plant and 65 times more flowers per pistillate plant than the native. Using nuclear microsatellite DNA markers we found that hybridization rates were asymmetric; 39% of the C. scandens seeds tested were hybrids, compared to only 1.6% of C. orbiculatus seeds. The asymmetric hybridization rates were likely not solely due to greater abundance of C. orbiculatus pollen because experimental hand crosses revealed that C. scandens had a higher rate (41%) of heterospecific fertilization than C. orbiculatus (2.4%). We previously reported that few hybrids were observed in the wild, and hybrids had greatly reduced fecundity. Thus, in our system, the threat posed by heterospecific pollen is not replacement by hybrids or introgression, but rather asymmetric reproductive interference. Reproductive interference extended to distances as great as 100 meters, thus, efforts to conserve the native species must reduce its exposure to C. orbiculatus over a relatively large spatial scale.

Adaptive associations among life history, reproductive traits, environment, and origin in the Wisconsin angiosperm flora

PREMISE

We tested 25 classic and novel hypotheses regarding trait-origin, trait-trait, and trait-environment relationships to account for flora-wide variation in life history, habit, and especially reproductive traits using a plastid DNA phylogeny of most native (96.6%, or 1494/1547 species) and introduced (87.5%, or 690/789 species) angiosperms in Wisconsin, USA.

METHODS

We assembled data on life history, habit, flowering, dispersal, mating system, and occurrence across open/closed/mixed habitats across species in the state phylogeny. We used phylogenetically structured analyses to assess the strength and statistical significance of associations predicted by our models.

RESULTS

Introduced species are more likely to be annual herbs, occupy open habitats, have large, visually conspicuous, hermaphroditic flowers, and bear passively dispersed seeds. Among native species, hermaphroditism is associated with larger, more conspicuous flowers; monoecy is associated with small, inconspicuous flowers and passive seed dispersal; and dioecy is associated with small, inconspicuous flowers and fleshy fruits. Larger flowers with more conspicuous colors are more common in open habitats, and in understory species flowering under open (spring) canopies; fleshy fruits are more common in closed habitats. Wind pollination may help favor dioecy in open habitats.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings support predictions regarding how breeding systems depend on flower size, flower color, and fruit type, and how those traits depend on habitat. This study is the first to combine flora-wide phylogenies with complete trait databases and phylogenetically structured analyses to provide powerful tests of evolutionary hypotheses about reproductive traits and their variation with geographic source, each other, and environmental conditions.

Pollinator dependence but no pollen limitation for eight plants occurring north of the Arctic Circle

Effective interactions between plants and pollinators are essential for the reproduction of plant species. Pollinator exclusion experiments and pollen supplementation experiments quantify the degree to which plants depend on animal pollinators and the degree to which plant reproduction is pollen limited. Pollen supplementation experiments have been conducted across the globe, but are rare in high latitude regions. To fill this knowledge gap, we experimentally investigated the dependence on animal pollinators and magnitude of pollen limitation in eight plant species north of the Arctic Circle in Lapland, Finland. Our findings show that all plant species were pollinator dependent, but not pollen limited. We discuss several mechanisms that might buffer our focal plants from pollen limitation, including plant and pollinator generalization, and attractive plant traits. Our results demonstrate that many plant species north of the Arctic Circle are currently receiving adequate pollinator service and provide a baseline for future comparisons of pollinator dependence and pollen limitation in the Arctic across space and time.

Land use and pollinator dependency drives global patterns of pollen limitation in the Anthropocene

Land use change, by disrupting the co-evolved interactions between plants and their pollinators, could be causing plant reproduction to be limited by pollen supply. Using a phylogenetically controlled meta-analysis on over 2200 experimental studies and more than 1200 wild plants, we ask if land use intensification is causing plant reproduction to be pollen limited at global scales. Here we report that plants reliant on pollinators in urban settings are more pollen limited than similarly pollinator-reliant plants in other landscapes. Plants functionally specialized on bee pollinators are more pollen limited in natural than managed vegetation, but the reverse is true for plants pollinated exclusively by a non-bee functional group or those pollinated by multiple functional groups. Plants ecologically specialized on a single pollinator taxon were extremely pollen limited across land use types. These results suggest that while urbanization intensifies pollen limitation, ecologically and functionally specialized plants are at risk of pollen limitation across land use categories.