RT journal article
T1 Plant spatial aggregation modulates the interplay between plant competition and pollinator attraction with contrasting outcomes of plant fitness
A1 Hurtado de Mendoza Romo, María
A1 Godoy del Olmo, Oscar
A1 Bartomeus, Ignasi
A2 Biología
AB Ecosystem functions such as seed production are the result of a complex interplay between competitive plant–plant interactions and mutualistic pollinator–plant interactions. In this interplay, spatial plant aggregation could work in two different directions: it could increase hetero- and conspecific competition, thus reducingseed production; but it could also attract pollinators, increasing plant fitness. To shed light on how plant spatialarrangement modulates this balance, we conducted a field study in a Mediterranean annual grassland with threefocal plant species with different phenology, Chamaemelum fuscatum (early phenology), Leontodon maroccanus(middle phenology) and Pulicaria paludosa (late phenology), and a diverse guild of pollinators (flies, bees, beetles and butterflies). All three species showed spatial aggregation of conspecific individuals. Additionally, wefound that the two mechanisms were working simultaneously: crowded neighborhoods reduced individual seedproduction via plant–plant competition, but they also made individual plants more attractive for some pollinatorguilds, increasing visitation rates and plant fitness. The balance between these two forces varied depending onthe focal species and the spatial scale considered. Therefore, our results indicate that mutualistic interactions donot always effectively compensate for competitive interactions in situations of spatial aggregation of floweringplants, at least in our study system. We highlight the importance of explicitly considering the spatial structure atdifferent spatial scales of multitrophic interactions to better understand individual plant fitness and communitydynamics.
PB Copernicus Publications
SN 1399-1183
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/32791
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/32791
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 15-nov-2026