9 research outputs found
Effect of invader removal: pollinators stay but some native plants miss their new friend
Removal of invasive species often benefits
biological diversity allowing ecosystems’ recovery.
However, it is important to assess the functional roles
that invaders may have established in their new areas
to avoid unexpected results from species elimination.
Invasive animal-pollinated plants may affect the
plant–pollination interactions by changing pollinator
availability and/or behaviour in the community. Thus,
removal of an invasive plant may have important
effects on pollinator community that may then be
reflected positive or negatively on the reproductive
success of native plants. The objective of this study
was to assess the effect of removing Oxalis pescaprae,
an invasive weed widely spread in the
Mediterranean basin, on plant–pollinator interactions
and on the reproductive success of co-flowering native
plants. For this, a disturbed area in central Portugal,
where this species is highly abundant, was selected.
Visitation rates, natural pollen loads, pollen tube
growth and natural fruit set of native plants were
compared in the presence of O. pes-caprae and after
manual removal of their flowers. Our results showed a
highly resilient pollination network but also revealed
some facilitative effects of O. pes-caprae on the
reproductive success of co-flowering native plants.
Reproductive success of the native plants seems to
depend not only on the number and diversity of floral
visitors, but also on their efficiency as pollinators. The
information provided on the effects of invasive species
on the sexual reproductive success of natives is
essential for adequate management of invaded areas.This work is financed by FEDER funds through the
COMPETE Program and by Portuguese Foundation for Science
and Technology (FCT) funds in the ambit of the project PTDC/
BIA-BIC/110824/2009, by CRUP Acc¸o˜es Integradas Luso-
Espanholas 2010 with the project E10/10, by MCI-Programa de
Internacionalizacio´n de la I ? D (PT2009-0068) and by the
Spanish DGICYT (CGL2009-10466), FEDER funds from the
European Union, and the Xunta de Galicia (INCITE09-
3103009PR). FCT also supported the work of S. Castro (FCT/
BPD/41200/2007) and J. Costa (CB/C05/2009/209; PTDC/
BIA-BIC/110824/2009). The work of V. Ferrero was supported
by the Fundacio´n Ramo´n Areces
Home Oxygen Therapy for Children. An Official American Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guideline
Is the mind Bayesian? The case for agnosticism
Probability judgment, Subjective Bayesianism, Bayesian coherence, Probability revising, Probability updating, Linguistic pragmatics,