Effect of Carpobrotus spp. on the pollination success of native plant species of the Balearic Islands

Abstract

Invasive plant species are often considered as potential competitors of native species due to their usually greater capacity for colonization and expansion, but we still have scarce information on whether invasives can also compete for pollination services with natives. In the present study, we hypothesized that the showy flowers of the highly invasive Carpobrotu spp. can compete with native species ( Cistus monspeliensis, Cistus salviifolius, Anthyllis cytisoides and Lotus cytisoides) with which it shares habitat and flowering time, influencing pollinator visitation. To test this, we censused insects visiting the flowers of native species in the field and recorded the number of flowers visited in adjacent areas with and without the presence of Carpobrotus. We also assessed the presence of exotic pollen on stigmas of native species and evaluated its effect on reproduction. We detected potential competition for pollinators only in one native species ( L. cytisoides), a facilitative effect in two other species ( C. salviifolius and A. cytisoides), and a neutral effect in a fourth one ( C. monspeliensis). Moreover, such effects appear not to be consistent in time. The presence of Carpobrotus pollen on native stigmas was almost negligible, and hand-pollination experiments showed that such exotic pollen does not interfere significantly with native pollen, not affecting seed set. Our results indicate that the role of the invasive Carpobrotus in promoting or constraining the natural pollination dynamics is likely to have species specific effects on the native flora.