Observing pollinator trait variation in relation to niche breadth in seasons of high and low precipitation
Abstract
Interactions between plants and pollinators are complex and a change to one can cause a significant impact on the other. Environmental perturbations like drought can alter plant- pollinator systems, changing the relative abundance of flower species, shifting species distribution, and decreasing floral resources. As a result of these drought-induced changes, pollinators, particularly insect pollinators, may be forced to change their foraging behavior. Pollinators’ foraging behavior is greatly defined by their niche breadth, which is the set of flower species that they can and will visit. A niche breadth is influenced by multiple factors such as the phenology of flowers, geography, and both the morphology of flowers and pollinators. Pollination events are more likely to occur if the morphological traits of the pollinator and the flower “match” in such a way as to make the interaction most efficient and beneficial for both partners: the pollinator needs to be able to reach nectar and the plant must be able to deposit its pollen on the pollinator for transport to another flower. In this way trait matching helps to define pollinator niche breadths. In this project I examined the impact of a drought in 2018 on the foraging patterns and niche breadth of pollinator species in the area around Gothic, Colorado. I predicted that because of the drought and resulting decrease or shift in floral resources, flower abundance, and flower species distribution, pollinating insect species will be forced to alter their foraging behavior and widen their niche breadth. As a result of this increase in generalist foraging behavior, bee traits and floral traits would likely match less frequently during the drought year. I found this hypothesis to be mostly rejected; trait matching was essentially nonexistent in the compared traits in the drought year and the next non-drought year. Floral abundance did decrease during the drought, but floral species richness did not significantly decrease. There was no clear decrease in pollinator abundance during the drought, however there was a decrease in pollinator abundance in the following year. This shows that a pollinator group’s niche breadth is highly variable and likely impacted by multiple factors including, but not limited by, floral abundance, floral species richness, abundance of other pollinators, and the quantity and quality of floral resources.
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