Animal Pollinators Research Articles

Pollination Efficiency of <i>Amegilla calens</i> (Hymenoptera: Apidae) on <i>Gossypium hirsutum</i> L. (Malvaceae) Variety L457 Flowers at Meskine (Maroua, Cameroon)

Animal pollination is a key of reproduction of more plants species including Gossypium hirsutum. This Malvaceae is the best cultivated oilseed plant in tropical and subtropical regions in the world. This research evaluates the interaction between Amegilla calens and Gossypium hirsutum from 2018 to 2019 based on the activities of the solitary bee on the flowers of this plant and their productive impact in field. The experiment was focused on four repeated treatments during the flowering phase: the first two were characterised by the existence or absence of protection of the flowers regarding all insects and the other two made up of flowers designed for the exclusive visit of A. calens or open then protected again without a visit from an insect or any other organism. Daily rhythm of activity, behavioural ecology, the pollination efficiency, the fruiting rate, the number of seeds per capsule and the percentage of normal seeds were evaluated. Among twenty insects species recorded A. calens is the most abundant with 30.72% of 655 visits and the most efficient pollinator. Amegilla calens is active on G. hirsutum flowers from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a maximum activity situated from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. All visits of this solitary bee are able to fertilize the flowers of Malvaceae. The mean duration of a visit per flower for pollen harvest is also more important (23.57 ± 0.96 sec) than nectar collection (13.69 ± 0.72 sec). For the two years, through its pollination efficiency, A. calens increased the fruiting rate by 20.30%, as well as the percentage of normal seeds by 32.39%. Therefore, we concluded that A. calens is the important pollinator and increases the fecundity and number of normal seeds of G. hirsutum.

Passerine birds supporting cross pollination in Erythrina stricta Roxb.

Erythina stricta is an ecologically important tree species in the rainforests of India and its nectar within the flowers contributes to birds’ diet and survival. Reports on the pollination of this species have not been published so far. We therefore explore the reproductive system of this tree species which has great significance to its ecosystem. Birds have an important role in the reproduction of trees through pollination particularly in tropical areas where reproductive success mostly depends on animal pollinator interactions. Study of visitation and nectar feeding behaviour of birds along with breeding system assessment of Erythina stricta. Birds visiting and foraging behaviour was observed during Erythrina stricta flowering season in an indian tropical rainforest. Reproductive system was assessed through controlled pollination experiments. Thirteen bird species were recorded visiting and foraging nectar from the flowers of Erythrina stricta. The maximum numbers of visits recorded were from the Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer, Pycnonotidae). The nectar feeding birds were, either (i) potential pollinator with long bills (e.g. Pycnonotus spp., Chloropsis aurifrons, and Dicrurus spp.) or (ii) nectar robbers with comparatively shorter bills (e.g. Zosterops palpebrosa, Stachyris ruficeps, Macronous gularis, Heterophasia glaciris). Controlled pollination experiments revealed high degree of cross pollination (xenogamy) and self-incompatibility in E. stricta. Birds were more frequent in early mornings and their foraging activity was also observed during evening hours; the frequency however, declined with respect to nectar availability. Long corolla tubes of E. stricta could restrict access to nectar collecting bees.

Passerine birds supporting cross pollination in Erythrina stricta Roxb.

Erythina stricta is an ecologically important tree species in the rainforests of India and its nectar within the flowers contributes to birds’ diet and survival. Reports on the pollination of this species have not been published so far. We therefore explore the reproductive system of this tree species which has great significance to its ecosystem. Birds have an important role in the reproduction of trees through pollination particularly in tropical areas where reproductive success mostly depends on animal pollinator interactions. Study of visitation and nectar feeding behaviour of birds along with breeding system assessment of Erythina stricta. Birds visiting and foraging behaviour was observed during Erythrina stricta flowering season in an indian tropical rainforest. Reproductive system was assessed through controlled pollination experiments. Thirteen bird species were recorded visiting and foraging nectar from the flowers of Erythrina stricta. The maximum numbers of visits recorded were from the Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer, Pycnonotidae). The nectar feeding birds were, either (i) potential pollinator with long bills (e.g. Pycnonotus spp., Chloropsis aurifrons, and Dicrurus spp.) or (ii) nectar robbers with comparatively shorter bills (e.g. Zosterops palpebrosa, Stachyris ruficeps, Macronous gularis, Heterophasia glaciris). Controlled pollination experiments revealed high degree of cross pollination (xenogamy) and self-incompatibility in E. stricta. Birds were more frequent in early mornings and their foraging activity was also observed during evening hours; the frequency however, declined with respect to nectar availability. Long corolla tubes of E. stricta could restrict access to nectar collecting bees.

Plant traits interplay to balance pollen limitation in the Brazilian seasonal dry forest: A meta-analysis

Animal pollination is one of the most important ecosystem services that benefit both natural plant communities and plant crops. A failure in pollination service can result in pollen limitation of fruit and seed set. This scenario can be even worse in endangered ecosystems such as tropical dry forests. Pollen limitation is a way of measuring the reproductive performance of plants by comparing the output of natural pollination with that of supplemental hand cross-pollination. Studies have shown that pollen limitation can be moderated by plant traits, such as plant habit, mating system, pollinator dependence and floral specialisation. Herein, we carried out a meta-analysis to determine the magnitude of pollen limitation in 60 plant species from the Caatinga vegetation of the Brazilian seasonal dry forest. We found an overall mean pollen limitation of 0.41 and a prevalence of 35%. Trees, shrubs, and self-incompatible, pollinator dependent and generalist plants were pollen limited. We found a significant interaction between plant habit and floral specialisation. Specialist and generalist trees and generalist shrubs were pollen limited. Trees and shrubs are mostly threatened in the endangered Caatinga. Species that are not pollen limited, such as lianas and herbs, may also be indirectly threatened by deforestation and intensive farming.

Pollinator dependence but no pollen limitation for eight plants occurring north of the Arctic Circle.

Effective interactions between plants and pollinators are essential for the reproduction of plant species. Pollinator exclusion experiments and pollen supplementation experiments quantify the degree to which plants depend on animal pollinators and the degree to which plant reproduction is pollen limited. Pollen supplementation experiments have been conducted across the globe, but are rare in high latitude regions. To fill this knowledge gap, we experimentally investigated the dependence on animal pollinators and magnitude of pollen limitation in eight plant species north of the Arctic Circle in Lapland, Finland. Our findings show that all plant species were pollinator dependent, but not pollen limited. We discuss several mechanisms that might buffer our focal plants from pollen limitation, including plant and pollinator generalization, and attractive plant traits. Our results demonstrate that many plant species north of the Arctic Circle are currently receiving adequate pollinator service and provide a baseline for future comparisons of pollinator dependence and pollen limitation in the Arctic across space and time.

Honey bees are important pollinators of South African blueberries despite their inability to sonicate

Animal-mediated pollination is an essential ecosystem service on which over a third of the world's agricultural crops depend. Blueberry fruit production is highly dependent on animal pollination and although visited by a range of bee species in their native range and agricultural settings, bumble bees are thought to be their primary native pollinators. Demand for blueberries has increased in recent years due to their perceived health benefits. Consequently, blueberry cultivation has expanded well beyond their native and original agricultural range, including several regions where bumble bees are not present. In South Africa, like many areas in the world, honey bees are the only commercially available pollinators for blueberries because many countries ban the importation of bumble bees. This study aimed to determine the benefits of honey bee pollination on blueberry fruit yield for the variety Ventura by comparing yields of honey bee-pollinated flowers to flowers where pollinators were excluded. Our results show that honey bees significantly increased berry mass and diameter. We conclude that Ventura in South Africa can be pollinated by honey bees, and that honey bee pollination can be an effective substitute for bumble bees in areas where bumble bees are unavailable. We also determined the extent to which blueberry yields could be improved by comparing fruit yield under honey bee pollination to fruit yield achieved through hand pollination. We found that honey bee pollinated blueberry yields were lower than yields achieved through hand pollination, suggesting that there is potentially room to improve honey bee pollination. Furthermore, we offer a conceptual figure to demonstrate how yield obtained through pollinator exclusion, open pollination, and hand pollination relate to each other. Additional research is required to study how beneficial honey bees are to fruit yield on other blueberry varieties as the benefits of honey bees are likely to vary depending on the variety.

Reconciling coffee productivity and natural vegetation conservation in an agroecosystem landscape in Brazil

Politicians have approved significant changes to the Brazilian Forest Code (Brazilian Law n. 12.651/2012), providing partial pardons for illegal deforestation in 2012. Nonetheless, the New Forest Code (NFC) may cause economic harm, since ecosystem services may be affected, and the productivity of several crops may end up decreasing. Here, we explored two sets of factors, one at a narrow-scale – the loss of close natural vegetation cover – and another at a wide-scale considering implications at a landscape level to measure the effects of the presence/absence of forest remnants, and consequently, of pollinators, on coffee productivity. The narrow-scale perspective used manipulative experiments in ten coffee plantations, and the wide-scale perspective considered secondary data on coffee productivity in planted and native forests of 61 municipalities to test the hypotheses: i) coffee branches with pollinator access are more productive; ii) coffee crops in contact with native forest remnants are more productive; iii) coffee plants located near to native forest remnants are more productive; iv) coffee productivity increases with the municipality area occupied by native forest remnants, and, v) coffee productivity decreases with the municipality area occupied by Eucalyptus spp. At the narrow-scale, we detected 32 % higher coffee productivity when pollinators were present (hypothesis i) and 15 % higher productivity when forest remnants were in contact with the plantation (hypothesis ii), but no differences related to forest remnants in the broader area (hypothesis iii). At the wide-scale, we observed that a higher amount of native forest cover increased coffee productivity (hypothesis iv), while increased Eucalyptus spp. plantations reduced coffee productivity (hypothesis v). The corroboration of hypotheses i, ii, and iv illustrates the importance of animal pollination and native vegetation remnants fr coffee productivity. The findings for hypothesis v reinforce that Eucalyptus spp. plantations are not good surrogates for native vegetation as part of management recovery action for deforested areas. Following the New Forest Code’s recommendations in Article 22 (Chapter IV, Section II), the preservation of native vegetation, species diversity, and native species regeneration should be attended to in legally instituted natural reserves. Our findings improve discernment that natural areas' devastation or its coverage using planted forest may reduce productivity levels of coffee plantations, representing a disruption of natural complexity, of organisms' connectivity, and consequently of ecosystem services as the pollination and pollinator-dependent crops' productivity, as the coffee.

Pollen release in the Proteaceae

Pollen dispersal is the step in higher plant mating systems over which the parent plant has the least control as it is dependent on the vagaries of weather conditions (anemophily) or animal behaviour (animal pollinator activity). While many families have passive release from the anther the Proteaceae has a diversity of pollen dispersal methods. Flowers from a range of species in the Proteaceae, covering the majority of genera from each of the four main subfamilies, were examined to determine how pollen is dispersed and to gain an overall view of how male function varies within the family. This provides a basis for predicting the degree of the six likely fates of pollen released in this family. Only one group (subfamily Persoonioideae) and four genera in one other subfamily (Proteoideae) dispense pollen directly from the anthers onto a flower visitor. Five genera in the Proteoideae have explosive pollen release, while Symphionema may require vibration to release the pollen. All the remaining Proteoideae genera, the single species of Bellendenoideae, and all genera of the Grevilleoideae (except Sphalmium) have a pollen presenter where pollen is dispersed from the style of the flower. Ancestral Proteaceae were likely to have been insect pollinated and had relatively small flowers. Taxa with explosive pollen release may have evolved early in the family and may have been more abundant early in the fossil record. However, the taxa with pollen presenters became much more abundant throughout the Tertiary when many developed robust gynoecia that can accommodate larger vertebrate pollinators.

Outstanding questions in flower metabolism.

The great diversity of flowers, their color, odor, taste, and shape, is mostly a result of the metabolic processes that occur in this reproductive organ when the flower and its tissues develop, grow, and finally die. Some of these metabolites serve to advertise flowers to animal pollinators, other confer protection towards abiotic stresses, and a large proportion of the molecules of the central metabolic pathways have bioenergetic and signaling functions that support growth and the transition to fruits and seeds. Although recent studies have advanced our general understanding of flower metabolism, several questions still await an answer. Here, we have compiled a list of open questions on flower metabolism encompassing molecular aspects, as well as topics of relevance for agriculture and the ecosystem. These questions include the study of flower metabolism through development, the biochemistry of nectar and its relevance to promoting plant-pollinator interaction, recycling of metabolic resources after flowers whiter and die, as well as the manipulation of flower metabolism by pathogens. We hope with this review to stimulate discussion on the topic of flower metabolism and set a reference point to return to in the future when assessing progress in the field.

The Value of Crop Production and Pollination Services in the Eastern Amazon

Nature safeguards living organisms and the ecosystem functions and services delivered by them. Animal pollination is an important Ecosystem Service since it plays a key role for achieving the sustainable development goals by safeguarding worldwide food production. Thus, conservation of pollination services is a major priority for guaranteeing global food security in the long term. Here we evaluate the crop pollination services in Pará state (Eastern Amazon, Brazil) focusing on two questions: (1) What is the economic value of crop production and pollination service in Pará? (2) Which municipalities are most dependent on pollination services considering local economies? We found 36 crops produced in the state; 20 (55%) crops are dependent on animal pollinators. In 2016, crop production value (CPV) for Pará state was US$ 2.95 billion and total pollination service value (PSV) was US$ 983.2 million, corresponding to 33% of CPV in Pará. Highest PSV value crops were açaí palm (US$635.6 million), cocoa (US$187.6 million), soybean (US$98.4 million), and watermelon (US$26.1 million), accounting for 96% of Pará’s PSV. Two municipalities (Medicilândia and Igarapé Miri) presented more than 50% of their GDP based on pollination services. In general, we found low crop diversity in the municipalities of Pará, suggesting an economic rural vulnerability for the state, mainly supported by the high productions of soy and açaí. Pollinator conservation and ecological intensified farming practices are urgent for supporting sustainable development for the state.

Land-Use and Climate Impacts on Plant–Pollinator Interactions and Pollination Services

Most flowering plants rely on animals for pollination and most animal pollinators rely on flowering plants for food resources. However, there is an ongoing concern that anthropogenic-induced global change threatens the mutualistic association between plants and pollinators. Two of the most important factors of global change are land-use and climate change. Land-use and climate change may affect species distributions and species phenologies, leading to spatial and temporal mismatches between mutualistic partners. Land-use and climate change may also influence species abundances, nesting habitats, floral resources and the behaviors of pollinators. Thus, mutualistic plant–pollinator interactions should be more susceptible to global change than simple measures of biodiversity, such as species richness and species composition. The potential negative impacts of land-use and climate change on plant–pollinator interactions may have large consequences for the conservation of threatened plants and pollinators and economically by diminishing crop productivity. Here I highlight ‘fruitful avenues’ for research into better understanding the influence of land-use and climate change on plant–pollinator interactions.

A dataset of multi-functional ecological traits of Brazilian bees

Worldwide, bees are the most important group of animal pollinators. The ecosystem service they provide is vital in natural areas and croplands, and the taxonomic and functional diversity associated with bees is vital in understanding ecosystem functioning ensuring biodiversity conservation, food security and human livelihoods. A dataset of bees from mountainous areas of Carajás National Forest (eastern Amazon) and Nova Lima (Atlantic Forest) is presented here. It is a compilation of sampling efforts from 1983 to 2018 through the accession of data stored in museum collections. In total, 222 and 144 bee species were recorded in Carajás and Nova Lima, respectively. This represents the most robust dataset of Brazilian bees including species traits (body size, flight range, distribution, crop pollination, sociality and nesting) of 328 species. This dataset contributes to advances in the knowledge of the functional trait ecology of wild bees and can benefit further studies that analyze the response of wild bees to land use and climate changes, and its effects on the provision of crop pollination services.

Crop Pollination in Small-Scale Agriculture in Tanzania: Household Dependence, Awareness and Conservation

Global economic value of agriculture production resulting from animal pollination services has been estimated to be $235–$577 billion. This estimate is based on quantification of crops that are available at the global markets, and mainly originates from countries with precise information about quantities of agriculture production, exports, and imports. In contrast, knowledge about the contribution of pollinators to household food and income in small-scale farming at local and regional scales is still lacking, especially for developing countries where the availability of agricultural statistics is limited. Although the global decline in pollinator diversity and abundance has received much attention, relatively little effort has been directed towards understanding the role of pollinators in small-scale farming systems, which feed a substantial part of the world’s population. Here, we have assessed how local farmers in northern Tanzania depend on insect-pollinated crops for household food and income, and to what extent farmers are aware of the importance of insect pollinators and how they can conserve them. Our results show that local farmers in northern Tanzania derived their food and income from a wide range of crop plants, and that 67% of these crops depend on animal pollination to a moderate to essential degree. We also found that watermelon—for which pollination by insects is essential for yield—on average contributed nearly 25% of household income, and that watermelons were grown by 63% of the farmers. Our findings indicate that local farmers can increase their yields from animal pollinated crops by adopting more pollinator-friendly farming practices. Yet, we found that local farmers’ awareness of pollinators, and the ecosystem service they provide, was extremely low, and intentional actions to conserve or manage them were generally lacking. We therefore urge agriculture authorities in Tanzania to act to ensure that local farmers become aware of insect pollinators and their important role in agriculture production.

Molecular Mechanisms of Pollination Biology.

Pollination is the transfer of pollen grains from the stamens to the stigma, an essential requirement of sexual reproduction in flowering plants. Cross-pollination increases genetic diversity and is favored by selection in the majority of situations. Flowering plants have evolved a wide variety of traits that influence pollination success, including those involved in optimization of self-pollination, attraction of animal pollinators, and the effective use of wind pollination. In this review we discuss our current understanding of the molecular basis of the development and production of these various traits. We conclude that recent integration of molecular developmental studies with population genetic approaches is improving our understanding of how selection acts on key floral traits in taxonomically diverse species, and that further work in nonmodel systems promises to provide exciting insights in the years to come.

Towards a better understanding of the role of nectar-inhabiting yeasts in plant\u2013animal interactions

Flowers offer a wide variety of substrates suitable for fungal growth. However, the mycological study of flowers has only recently begun to be systematically addressed from an ecological point of view. Most research on the topic carried out during the last decade has focused on studying the prevalence and diversity of flower-inhabiting yeasts, describing new species retrieved from floral parts and animal pollinators, and the use of select nectar yeasts as model systems to test ecological hypotheses. In this primer article, we summarize the current state of the art in floral nectar mycology and provide an overview of some research areas that, in our view, still require further attention, such as the influence of fungal volatile organic compounds on the foraging behavior of pollinators and other floral visitors, the analysis of the direct and indirect effects of nectar-inhabiting fungi on the fitness of plants and animals, and the nature and consequences of fungal-bacterial interactions taking place within flowers.

Status of pollinators and their role in maintaining agroecosystems

The survival of man on this planet depends solely on plants for one reason or the other. To enable crop production, as the phenomenon of pollination is a primary factor for fertilization. The diversity of global pollinators and pollination systems is very much striking. Most of the 25,000 to 30,000 species of bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) are effective pollinators, and together with moths, flies, wasps, beetles and butterflies, make up the majority of pollinating species. The world food security, food diversity, human nutrition and food prices all rely strongly on animal pollinators. This is particularly so in the case of horticultural crops. Horticultural crop diversification has now become an avenue to alleviate poverty amongst many cultivars around the world. The foodstuff for which pollinators are important are largely the fruits and vegetables that provide critical nutrients and minerals. In an increasingly industrialized world, these are disappearing from people’s diets. This is a concern, not just to the developed world, but also to the developing world, in a number of respects. Thus, awareness must be created around the globe related to declining pollinator diversity and decreasing agricultural production. Conservation of world pollinator diversity is the only solution to promising food stability for global population.

Floral visitors and pollinator dependence are related to floral display size and plant height in native weeds of central Mexico

Pollinator dependency is a life history trait that affects the evolutionary trajectory of individual plant species and their pollinators. It has consequences for plant communities, particularly in the context of human-modified landscapes. We used Mesoamerican weed vegetation as a model to explore the influence of structural plant features on the relationship of plants with pollinators. This vegetation type has some characteristics that are different from the well-known communities of Mediterranean/European origin; the differences are mostly related to the stature of the most important crop, maize. We evaluated the effect of an inflorescence bagging experiment on seed set to assess pollinator dependence of the ten most important species, all native annual herbs, in two maize fields of the central Mexican highlands and observed floral visitors. The tallest herbs had the largest floral display and the most visitors. They were dependent on animal pollination for seed set, which is unusual for annual plants and more so for weeds. Medium-sized species in the interior of the field were facultatively pollinator-dependent, and small species fully dependent on autonomous self-pollination. Pollinator dependency was correlated with plant stature and floral display area, probably related to conspicuousness or ease of detection by animals. We conclude that plant species composition of this vegetation type is related to pollinator access.

Male flowers of Aconitum compensate for toxic pollen with increased floral signals and rewards for pollinators

Many plants require animal pollinators for successful reproduction; these plants provide pollinator resources in pollen and nectar (rewards) and attract pollinators by specific cues (signals). In a seeming contradiction, some plants produce toxins such as alkaloids in their pollen and nectar, protecting their resources from ineffective pollinators. We investigated signals and rewards in the toxic, protandrous bee-pollinated plant Aconitum napellus, hypothesizing that male-phase flower reproductive success is pollinator-limited, which should favour higher levels of signals (odours) and rewards (nectar and pollen) compared with female-phase flowers. Furthermore, we expected insect visitors to forage only for nectar, due to the toxicity of pollen. We demonstrated that male-phase flowers emitted more volatile molecules and produced higher volumes of nectar than female-phase flowers. Alkaloids in pollen functioned as chemical defences, and were more diverse and more concentrated compared to the alkaloids in nectar. Visitors actively collected little pollen for larval food but consumed more of the less-toxic nectar. Toxic pollen remaining on the bee bodies promoted pollen transfer efficiency, facilitating pollination.

Genotype-specific effects of ericoid mycorrhizae on floral traits and reproduction in Vaccinium corymbosum.

PremiseMost plants interact with mycorrhizal fungi and animal pollinators simultaneously. Yet, whether mycorrhizae affect traits important to pollination remains poorly understood and may depend on the match between host and fungal genotypes. Here, we examined how ericoid mycorrhizal fungi affected flowering phenology, floral traits, and reproductive success, among eight genotypes of highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum (Ericaceae). We asked three overarching questions: (1) Do genotypes differ in response to inoculation? (2) How does inoculation affect floral and flowering traits? (3) Are inoculated plants more attractive to pollinators and less pollen limited than non‐inoculated plants of the same genotype?MethodsTo examine these questions, we experimentally inoculated plants with ericoid mycorrhizal fungi, grew the plants in the field, and measured flowering and floral traits over 2 years. In year 2, we conducted a hand‐pollination experiment to test whether plants differed in pollen limitation.ResultsInoculated plants had significantly higher levels of colonization for some genotypes, and there were significant floral trait changes in inoculated plants for some genotypes as well. On average, inoculated plants produced significantly larger floral displays, more fruits per inflorescence, and heavier fruits with lower sugar content, than non‐inoculated, control plants. Hand pollination enhanced the production of fruits, and fruit mass, for non‐inoculated plants but not for those that were inoculated.ConclusionsOur results demonstrate that inoculation with ericoid mycorrhizal fungi enhanced flowering and altered investment in reproduction in genotype‐specific ways. These findings underscore the importance of examining belowground symbionts and genotype‐specific responses in their hosts to fully understand the drivers of aboveground interactions.

Importance of intraspecific variation in the pollination and seed dispersal functions of a double mutualist animal species

Although most plants depend on different animals for pollination and seed dispersal, sometimes the same animal species provides both functions, being thus involved in what has been termed a ‘double mutualism’. Very little is known on the effectiveness of such species as both pollinators and seed dispersers, and even less on the intraspecific level differences at the contribution of an animal mutualist to plant fitness. In this study, we focused on the interaction between a Mediterranean shrub Cneorum tricoccon (Rutaceae) and the Balearic lizard Podarcis lilfordi (Lacertidae) in order to assess: 1) the role of this lizard as a legitimate pollinator of the plant (previously thought to be exclusively insect‐pollinated), and 2) the intraspecific variation in the use of flowers and fruits by lizard individuals, comparing males, females and juveniles. We further evaluated whether lizards show different fruit size selection depending on sex and age, with potential consequences for seed germination. Lizards visited more flowers and selected more hermaphrodite flowers than insects did, leading to relative increases in both fruit and seed set. Interestingly, female and juvenile lizards were the main flower visitors, whereas males were the main fruit consumers. Males selected the largest fruits (bearing the largest seeds) though this did not increase seed germination, which was only ca 15%. We concluded that P. lilfordi acts as a legitimate pollinator of C. tricoccon and, thus, confirm that this system constitutes a new case of double mutualism, especially common in island compared to mainland systems. Moreover, our findings show a large variation among conspecific individuals in their role as either pollinators or seed dispersers, with potential implications for plant reproductive success. Our study, therefore, highlights the importance of evaluating plant–animal interactions at the intraspecific level, and calls for more in‐depth studies on the consequences of such intraspecific variation.