Local habitat characteristics but not landscape urbanization drive pollinator visitation and native plant pollination in forest remnants

• Published in: Biological conservation Vol. 160; pp. 10 - 18
• Main Authors: Williams, Neal M., Winfree, Rachael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Abundance; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Bees; Biological and medical sciences; Claytonia; Claytonia virginica; Conservation; Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife; forests; Fragments; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; habitat destruction; Habitat loss; Habitats; indigenous species; Land transformation; land use; Landscapes; mortality; mutualism; Parks, reserves, wildlife conservation. Endangered species: population survey and restocking; Plants (organisms); Polemonium reptans; pollen; Pollen limitation; pollination; pollinators; Populations; spring; Urbanization; viability; wild flowers; Woodland; Woodlands; USA, Mid-Atlantic Region; Land transformation; Urbanization; Pollen limitation; Habitat loss; Bees; Woodland; Transformation; Landscape; Forest zone; Loss; Remnant vegetation; Pollination; Plant; Pollinator; Habitat; Pollen; Native species; Anthropogenic factor; Environmental protection
• ISSN: 0006-3207; 1873-2917
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2012.12.035

► We investigate the effects of urbanization on pollinators and pollination of native wildflowers. ► Pollinator abundance strongly affected plant reproduction among sites. ► Landscape change was not a primary diver of pollinator loss or pollination limitation. ► Local habitat characters more strongly impacted pollinators and pollination. ► Pollination function can be maintained in fragments of native habitat within urban landscapes. Habitat loss from urban development threatens native plant populations in many regions of the world. In addition to direct plant mortality, urban intensification potentially impacts pollinator communities and in turn disrupts the pollination mutualisms that are critical to the viability of native plant populations. We placed standardized flowering plant arrays into woodlands along a gradient of increasing urban land use to simultaneously quantify landscape-scale and local-scale effects on pollinators and on reproduction of two spring ephemeral wildflowers (Claytonia virginica and Polemonium reptans) in woodland fragments in the Mid-Atlantic Region of North America. Greater pollinator abundance and associated diversity significantly reduced the degree of pollen limitation, demonstrating that pollinator populations are critical to successful pollination of these plant populations. However, landscape-scale habitat loss did not reduce pollinator abundance or diversity. Habitat loss at the landscape scale therefore does not appear to drive changes in pollination in this woodland system. Rather, local-scale habitat characteristics were more important, with pollinators being more abundant in brighter woodland patches for one plant species, and in larger patches for the other species. Because we found abundant pollinators and adequate pollination even in isolated, urban woodland fragments, our results are encouraging for the conservation of both plants and pollinators in urban landscapes.