Biological Constraints Determining Specialization in Canadian Plant-Pollinator Communities
Date
2018-04-16
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Abstract
The overall objective of the research reported in this dissertation was to investigate biological factors underlying ecological specialization in Canadian plant-pollinator communities. Using a combination of fieldwork and the analysis of previously collected data, my research determined that landscape degradation led to observed local-scale differences in the prevalence of ecologically specialized clades of plants and pollinators in Canadian ecosystems. Through ecological and phylogenetic community analysis, I found that the alteration in community composition increases the prevalence of zygomorphic clades in the more degraded zones. Thus, plant community composition in disturbed areas favours the persistence of ecologically specialized groups (notably nitrogen fixers) that may enhance soil conditions. The prevalence of particular clades of pollinators in the two different habitats across Canada is partly due to the environmental tolerances of certain pollinator clades. Bombus clade comprised a higher proportion of prairie bees, whereas assemblages in Garry oak sites exhibited higher representation from solitary bees (e.g., Osmia, Andrena, Ceratina). Likewise, pollinator traits associated with areas that had more precipitations was soil nesting and traits related to areas that exhibited high temperatures were cavity-nesting. I identified specific cases of reciprocal specialization in plant-pollinator interactions as well as selective environmental occupancy of ecologically specialized clades. These findings can inform conservation efforts to maintain adequate pollination services to plant communities. Although disturbance interactions remained consistent in the number of reciprocal specialization cases, I hypothesize plant-pollinator interactions in prairie grassland systems in Alberta exhibit more interesting cases of specialization than previously thought.
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Specialization, ecophylogenetics, ecosystem services
Citation
Villalobos, S. (2018). Biological Constraints Determining Specialization in Canadian Plant-Pollinator Communities (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/31807