Using metabarcoding to reveal and quantify plant-pollinator interactions.

12 pagesInternational audienceGiven the ongoing decline of both pollinators and plants, it is crucial to implement effective methods to describe complex pollination networks across time and space in a comprehensive and high-throughput way. Here we tested if metabarcoding may circumvent the limits of conventional methodologies in detecting and quantifying plant-pollinator interactions. Metabarcoding experiments on pollen DNA mixtures described a positive relationship between the amounts of DNA from focal species and the number of trnL and ITS1 sequences yielded. The study of pollen loads of insects captured in plant communities revealed that as compared to the observation of visits, metabarcoding revealed 2.5 times more plant species involved in plant-pollinator interactions. We further observed a tight positive relationship between the pollen-carrying capacities of insect taxa and the number of trnL and ITS1 sequences. The number of visits received per plant species also positively correlated to the number of their ITS1 and trnL sequences in insect pollen loads. By revealing interactions hard to observe otherwise, metabarcoding significantly enlarges the spatiotemporal observation window of pollination interactions. By providing new qualitative and quantitative information, metabarcoding holds great promise for investigating diverse facets of interactions and will provide a new perception of pollination networks as a whole

Dynamique et fonctionement des communautés végétales subalpines pyrénéennes

TOULOUSE3-BU Sciences (315552104) / SudocSudocFranceF

Interactions plantes-pollinisateurs et reproduction sexuée en habitat fragmenté (le cas d'un arbuste à floraison massive)

TOULOUSE3-BU Sciences (315552104) / SudocSudocFranceF

Nutrition et réponses des plantes subalpines pyrénéennes à la contrainte azotée

TOULOUSE3-BU Sciences (315552104) / SudocSudocFranceF

Calcium and potassium dynamics and biopurification in two populations of the subalpine evergreen shrub Rhododendron ferrugineum

Abstract Calcium (Ca) and potassium (K) are important acidity neutralizers in soils and essential elements for plants. These two elements are known to undergo a biopurification within the plant (i.e., discrimination against strontium (Sr) and barium (Ba) for Ca, and rubidium (Rb) for K). However variations in the magnitude of this process between plant populations have rarely been reported, especially in high altitude, nutrient-depleted habitats. Concentrations of Ca, Sr, Ba, K and Rb were measured in roots, stems and in the different leaf cohorts in two populations of the evergreen shrub R. ferrugineum located at a granitic high elevation site. Calcium and K concentrations in leaves were respectively ~5 and 3 times higher than in roots and stems. Ca concentration increased while K concentration decreased with leaf age. The ratios Ca/Sr, Ca/Ba and K/Rb increased from roots to leaves, revealing a significant biopurification especially between stems and leaves. This phenomenon was higher for Ca than for K, with Ca/Sr and Ca/Ba ratios more than twice and 4 times higher in leaves than in roots, respectively, while K/Rb ratio in leaves was only 50% higher than in roots. Ca/Sr ratio decreased whereas K/Rb increased with leaf age. While the first could result from a "chromatographic effect" of the vascular column, the latter suggests the existence of biopurification mechanisms during influx/efflux of K from the leaf. Surprisingly, the magnitude of Ca biopurification varied between populations on a small geographical scale suggesting that Ca/Sr ratio should be used cautiously for plant Ca source identification

Subalpine Pyrenees received higher nitrogen deposition than predicted by EMEP and CHIMERE chemistry-transport models

International audienceDeposition of reactive nitrogen (N) from the atmosphere is expected to be the third greatest driver of biodiversity loss by the year 2100. Chemistry-transport models are essential tools to estimate spatially explicit N deposition but the reliability of their predictions remained to be validated in mountains. We measured N deposition and air concentration over the subalpine Pyrenees. N deposition was found to range from 797 to 1,463 mg N m(-2) year(-1). These values were higher than expected from model predictions, especially for nitrate, which exceeded the estimations of EMEP by a factor of 2.6 and CHIMERE by 3.6. Our observations also displayed a reversed reduced-to-oxidized ratio in N deposition compared with model predictions. The results highlight that the subalpine Pyrenees are exposed to higher levels of N deposition than expected according to standard predictions and that these levels exceed currently recognized critical loads for most high-elevation habitats. Our study reveals a need to improve the evaluation of N deposition in mountains which are home to a substantial and original part of the world's biodiversity