Elucidating plant-pollinator interactions in South Brazilian grasslands: What do we know and where are we going?

Suiane Santos Oleques,Rubem Samuel De Avila Jr,Tatiana Teixeira De Souza-Chies

doi:10.1590/0102-33062020abb0225

Suiane Santos Oleques, Rubem Samuel De Avila Jr + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-33062020abb0225

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Abstract

Grassland ecosystems present patterns of plant-pollinator interactions that may be linked to habitat heterogeneity, plant composition and disturbances. Most studies about plant-pollinator interactions in the Neotropics were conducted in forest, savanna-like, or Andean vegetation. However, the current increase in the number of studies about interactions in grassland vegetation promises a better understanding of the pollination ecology of these landscapes. In this systematic review, we summarised information from 24 articles about plant-pollinator interactions in South Brazilian grasslands. We highlighted patterns of plant-pollinator interactions, indicating their particularities compared to other grassland communities in South America. Bees are important pollinators of many plant species in these grasslands and most plants are visited by more than one group of pollinators. Among the plant species visited by a single pollinator group, most were visited by bees. However, many types of pollinators, plant species, habitats, and regions have, thus far, received little sampling effort. Pollination by groups other than bees, such as nocturnal pollinators, flies, beetles, and birds, is particularly understudied. The information provided in this review summarizes data that could be used to foster more detailed pollination studies to understand the diversification and maintenance of grassland floras of South Brazil.

Highlights

Plant-pollinator interactions play a fundamental role in biodiversity integrity (Potts et al 2010) and are fundamental to plant population dynamics as they ensure population recruitment by fruit and seed set
We only considered studies based on field observations conducted in South Brazilian grasslands, which includes grassland vegetation of both Pampa and Atlantic Rain Forest domains
Our search resulted in three plant community-level studies in the grasslands of the Pampa domain of Rio Grande do Sul (Pinheiro et al 2008; Oleques et al 2019; Beal-Neves et al 2020)

Summary

Introduction

Plant-pollinator interactions play a fundamental role in biodiversity integrity (Potts et al 2010) and are fundamental to plant population dynamics as they ensure population recruitment by fruit and seed set. The constant conversion of native landscapes could be putting a set of diverse organisms associated with still unknown ecological interactions at risk (Valiente-Banuet et al 2015; French et al 2017). Data about this mutualistic interaction from different plant communities and physiognomies could help us to understand the ecological-evolutionary processes that determine the occurrence patterns of a set of plant species (Wołowski et al 2017) and to evaluate potential species extinction through plant-pollinator interactions (Memmott et al 2007). The understanding of plant-pollinator interactions can provide information about the vulnerability of habitats, assessing the risks of local extinction of plants, animals, and the interactions among them (Simmons et al 2020)

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