Scale-dependent effects of landscape structure on pollinator traits, species interactions and pollination success

Abstract

The environmental filtering of species traits can influence the identity of their interaction partners and the contribution of species interactions to ecosystem functioning, but the extent to which this process is influenced by landscape composition and configuration remains unclear. We combined a field experiment with an agent-based model to assess how landscape structure and local flower patch isolation affect pollinator body-size distribution and plant–pollinator interactions, sampled at different spatial extents. We then evaluated how these changes in pollinator functional (i.e. body-size) diversity influence plant reproduction. We observed higher pollinator functional diversity in less-isolated patches, which promoted plant reproduction via a relationship between functional diversity and interaction complementarity. This complementarity occurred partly because larger pollinators interacted with more plant species. Moreover, we showed that patch configuration at the landscape level can change the direction of these local-scale patch isolation effects on pollinator body-size distribution, functional diversity and plant–pollinator interactions. Importantly, these relationships were robust to sampling spatial extent. Thus, management strategies to promote pollination should account for local resources and landscape structure, because response, effect and interaction traits like body size connect landscape filtering effects with local community responses and outcomes of interaction-based functions.