Plants are visited by more pollinator species than pollination syndromes predicted in an oceanic island community

Abstract

AbstractThe pollination syndrome concept has provided powerful utility in understanding the evolution and adaptation of floral traits. However, the utility of this conception has been questioned on the grounds that flowers usually attract a broader spectrum of visitors than one might expect. Furthermore, the relationship between plant specialization and floral traits is poorly understood. Here, we examined the applicability of using the pollination syndrome to predict the pollinators of plants on Yongxing Island. We used the species-level specialization of pollination networks to compare the difference of plant ecological specialization among floral traits. The result of full model was not significant, indicating that floral traits did not affect the pollinator functional groups. The five floral traits explained only 22.5% of the pollinator’s visitation preference. Our results showed that plants were visited by more pollinator species than pollination syndromes predicted. Plants with restrictive flowers showed higher specialization than those with unrestrictive flowers, while other floral traits exhibited no significant effect on plant specialization. Generalized pollination system on oceanic island might influence the predictive accuracy of pollination syndromes and the relationship between floral traits and plant ecological specialization. Our findings highlighted the utility and limitations of pollination syndromes concept in oceanic island communities.