Life Sciences Commons^™

Plant-Pollinator Interactions Over 120 Years: Loss Of Species, Co-Occurrence, And Function, Laura A. Burkle, John C. Marlin, Tiffany M. Knight

Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations

Using historic data sets, we quantified the degree to which global change over 120 years disrupted plant-pollinator interactions in a temperate forest understory community in Illinois, USA. We found degradation of interaction network structure and function and extirpation of 50% of bee species. Network changes can be attributed to shifts in forb and bee phenologies resulting in temporal mismatches, nonrandom species extinctions, and loss of spatial co-occurrences between extant species in modified landscapes. Quantity and quality of pollination services have declined through time. The historic network showed flexibility in response to disturbance; however, our data suggest that networks will be …