Nectar and pollen rewards of invasive plants and their native congeners

Abstract

Many invasive plants are equipped with a suite of mechanisms that can allow them to out-compete native plants. Recently, there has been growing recognition that invasive plants may affect native plants by luring away shared pollinators. The goal of this research was to explore the properties that make invasive plants strong competitors for pollination services from insects and birds. I addressed the question: How commonly do invasive plants offer more attractive nectar and pollen rewards than their native counterparts? I examined quality and quantity of floral rewards from native-invader pairs by measuring nectar production rate, nectar concentration, pollen volume, and pollen protein content. For all of the response variables except nectar production rate, most or all of the invasive plants were more rewarding than their native counterparts. To assess whether invasives offering more rewarding nectar and pollen than natives is a general phenomenon will require the study of a broader selection of species pairs. Key Words: pollinators, mating system, competition, preference, nectar, pollen 3

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