Cheaters among pollinators: Nectar robbing and thieving vary spatiotemporally with floral traits in Afrotropical forests

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60077344%3A_____%2F23%3A00578371" target="_blank" >RIV/60077344:_____/23:00578371 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/00216208:11310/23:10474863

Result on the web

<a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.4696" target="_blank" >https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ecs2.4696</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4696" target="_blank" >10.1002/ecs2.4696</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Cheaters among pollinators: Nectar robbing and thieving vary spatiotemporally with floral traits in Afrotropical forests

Original language description

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.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10618 - Ecology

Project

Result was created during the realization of more than one project. More information in the Projects tab.

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Ecosphere

ISSN

2150-8925

e-ISSN

2150-8925

Volume of the periodical

14

Issue of the periodical within the volume

11

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

15

Pages from-to

e4696

UT code for WoS article

001106085900001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85176936899