INVESTIGADORES
AIZEN Marcelo Adrian
artículos
Título:
Trait matching of flower visitors and crops predicts fruit set better than trait diversity
Autor/es:
GARIBALDI, L.A., I. BARTOMEUS, R. BOMMARCO, A. KLEIN, S. CUNNINGHAM, M.A. AIZEN, V. BOREUX, M. GARRATT, L. CARVALHEIRO, C. KREMEN, C. MORALES, C. SCHÜEPP, N. CHACOFF, B. FREITAS, V. GAGIC, A. HOLZSCHUH, B. KLATT, K. KREWENKA, S. KRISHNAN, Y M. MAYFIELD
Revista:
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY
Editorial:
WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC
Referencias:
Lugar: Londres; Año: 2015 vol. 52 p. 1436 - 1444
ISSN:
0021-8901
Resumen:
1. Trait diversity is suggested to drive ecosystem functioning, but for functions comprising two trophic levels, trait matching between interacting partners may better predict functioning. However, such effects are unclear for most functions. This is particularly relevant for pollination of pollinator-dependent crops, as in many intances crops are exotic but pollinators are native, without a co-evolutionary history.2. Worldwide, we collected data on traits of flower visitors, visitation rates to crop flowers per insect species, and fruit set in 469 fields of 33 crop systems. Through hierarchical mixed-effects models we tested whether flower-visitor trait diversity and (or) trait matching between flower-visitors and crops improve the prediction of crop fruit set (functioning) beyond flower-visitor species diversity and abundance.3. Flower-visitor trait diversity was positively related to fruit set, but surprisingly did not explain more variation than flower-visitor species diversity.4. The best prediction of fruit set was obtained by matching traits of flower visitors (body size and mouthpart length) and crops (nectar accessibility of flowers) in addition to flower-visitor abundance, species richness, and species evenness. Fruit set increased with species richness, and more so in assemblages with high evenness, indicating that additional species of flower-visitors contribute more to crop pollination when species abundances are similar.5. Synthesis and applications. Despite contrasting floral traits for crops worldwide, only the abundance of a few pollinator species is commonly managed for greater yield. Our results suggest that the identification and enhancement of pollinator species with traits matching those of the focal crop, as well as the enhancement of pollinator richness and evenness, will increase crop yield beyond current practices. Furthermore, we show that relatively few traits, with accessible information for a wide range of flower-visitor species can be employed by field practitioners for predicting and managing agroecosystem functioning