Landscape simplification leads to loss of plant–pollinator interaction diversity and flower visitation frequency despite buffering by abundant generalist pollinators
Abstract
Aim: Global change, especially landscape simplification, is a main driver of species loss that can alter ecological interaction networks, with potentially severe consequences to ecosystem functions. Therefore, understanding how landscape simplification affects the rate of loss of plant-pollinator interaction diversity (i.e., number of unique interactions) compared to species diversity alone, and the role of persisting abundant pollinators, is key to assess the consequences of landscape simplification on network stability and pollination services.
Methods: We analysed 24 landscape-scale plant–pollinator networks from standardised transect walks along landscape simplification gradients in three countries. We
compared the rates of species and interaction diversity loss along the landscape simplification gradient and then stepwise excluded the top 1%–20% most abundant pollinators from the data set to evaluate their effect on interaction diversity, network robustness to secondary loss of species, and flower visitation frequencies in simplified landscapes
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