Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.3390/insects12121096
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Oilseed rape shares abundant and generalized pollinators with its co-flowering plant species
Author Thompson, A.; Ştefan, V.; Knight, T.M.
Source Titel Insects
Year 2021
Department BZF; iDiv
Volume 12
Issue 12
Page From art. 1096
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Supplements https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/12/12/1096/s1
Keywords oilseed rape; community composition; floral functional traits; null model; plant-pollinator network; Bray-Curtis index; modularity
Abstract Mass-flowering crops, such as Oilseed Rape (OSR), provide resources for pollinators and benefit from pollination services. Studies that observe the community of interactions between plants and pollinators are critical to understanding the resource needs of pollinators. We observed pollinators on OSR and wild plants in adjacent semi-natural areas in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany to quantify (1) the co-flowering plants that share pollinators with OSR, (2) the identity and functional traits of plants and pollinators in the network module of OSR, and (3) the identity of the plants and pollinators that act as network connectors and hubs. We found that four common plants share a high percentage of their pollinators with OSR. OSR and these plants all attract abundant pollinators in the community, and the patterns of sharing were not more than would be expected by chance sampling. OSR acts as a module hub, and primarily influences the other plants in its module that have similar functional traits. However, the plants that most influence the pollination of OSR have different functional traits and are part of different modules. Our study demonstrates that supporting the pollination of OSR requires the presence of semi-natural areas with plants that can support a high abundances of generalist pollinators.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=25590
Thompson, A., Ştefan, V., Knight, T.M. (2021):
Oilseed rape shares abundant and generalized pollinators with its co-flowering plant species
Insects 12 (12), art. 1096 10.3390/insects12121096