Determinants of plant reproductive susceptibility to habitat fragmentation: review and synthesis through a meta-analysis

AGUILAR, R.; LORENA ASHWORTH; LEONARDO GALETTO; AIZEN, M. A.

Ecology Letters

Wiley

Lugar: Francia; Año: 2006 vol. 9 p. 968 - 980

AbstractThe  loss  and  fragmentation  of  natural  habitats  by  human  activities  are  pervasivephenomena in terrestrial ecosystems across the Earth and the main driving forces behindcurrent biodiversity loss. Animal-mediated pollination is a key process for the sexualreproduction of most extant flowering plants, and the one most consistently studied inthe context of habitat fragmentation. By means of a meta-analysis we quantitativelyreviewed the results from independent fragmentation studies throughout the last twodecades, with the aim of testing whether pollination and reproduction of plant speciesmay  be  differentially  susceptible  to  habitat  fragmentation  depending  on  certainreproductive traits that typify the relationship with and the degree of dependence ontheir pollinators. We found an overall large and negative effect of fragmentation onpollination and on plant reproduction. The compatibility system of plants, which reflectsthe degree of dependence on pollinator mutualism, was the only reproductive trait thatexplained  the  differences  among  the  species
  effect  sizes.  Furthermore,  a  highlysignificant correlation  between the  effect  sizes of  fragmentation on  pollination  andreproductive success suggests that the most proximate cause of reproductive impairmentin  fragmented  habitats  may  be  pollination  limitation.  We  discuss  the  conservationimplications of these findings and give some suggestions for future research into thisarea.