Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1038/s41598-020-78736-x
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Urban fragmentation leads to lower floral diversity, with knock-on impacts on bee biodiversity
Author Theodorou, P.; Herbst, S.-A.; Kahnt, B.; Landaverde-González, P.; Baltz, L.M.; Osterman, J.; Paxton, R.J.
Source Titel Scientific Reports
Year 2020
Department CLE
Volume 10
Page From art. 21756
Language englisch
Supplements https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41598-020-78736-x/MediaObjects/41598_2020_78736_MOESM1_ESM.docx
Abstract Bees and flowering plants are two closely interacting groups of organisms. Habitat loss and fragmentation associated with urbanisation are major threats to both partners. Yet how and why bee and floral richness and diversity co-vary within the urban landscape remain unclear. Here, we sampled bees and flowering plants in urban green spaces to investigate how bee and flowering plant species richness, their phylogenetic diversity and pollination-relevant functional trait diversity influence each other in response to urban fragmentation. As expected, bee abundance and richness were positively related to flowering plant richness, with bee body size (but not bee richness and diversity) increasing with nectar-holder depth of flowering plants. Causal modelling indicated that bottom-up effects dictated patterns of bee-flower relationships, with urban fragmentation diminishing flowering plants richness and thereby indirectly reducing bee species richness and abundance. The close relationship between bees and flowering plants highlights the risks of their parallel declines in response to land-use change within the urban landscape.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=24187
Theodorou, P., Herbst, S.-A., Kahnt, B., Landaverde-González, P., Baltz, L.M., Osterman, J., Paxton, R.J. (2020):
Urban fragmentation leads to lower floral diversity, with knock-on impacts on bee biodiversity
Sci. Rep. 10 , art. 21756 10.1038/s41598-020-78736-x