Increasing Pollinator Abundance in Undisturbed Mediterranean Montane Habitats over Recent Decades

Abstract

The widely held notion of “pollinator decline” has mostly arisen from studies undertaken at biologically impoverished, human-managed ecosystems from mid-latitude regions. Long-term studies have been not conducted so far in biologically diverse, well-preserved natural communities. The dynamics of pollinator functional abundance was investigated for 65 plant species sampled over two decades at 29 sites in undisturbed Mediterranean montane habitats of southeastern Spain. At the plant-community level, pollinator abundance increased over the study period, largely because of an increase in solitary bees and, to a lesser extent, beetles. This provides evidence that pollinator declines are not universal beyond anthropogenic ecosystems. Photo credit: Carlos M. Herrera. Photo credit: Carlos M. Herrera. Photo credit: Carlos M. Herrera. Photo credit: Carlos M. Herrera. Photo credit: Carlos M. Herrera. These photographs illustrate the article “Complex long-term dynamics of pollinator abundance in undisturbed Mediterranean montane habitats over two decades” by Carlos M. Herrera published in Ecological Monographs. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1338