Plant-pollinator coextinctions and the loss of plant functional and phylogenetic diversity

PLoS One. 2013 Nov 29;8(11):e81242. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0081242. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Plant-pollinator coextinctions are likely to become more frequent as habitat alteration and climate change continue to threaten pollinators. The consequences of the resulting collapse of plant communities will depend partly on how quickly plant functional and phylogenetic diversity decline following pollinator extinctions. We investigated the functional and phylogenetic consequences of pollinator extinctions by simulating coextinctions in seven plant-pollinator networks coupled with independent data on plant phylogeny and functional traits. Declines in plant functional diversity were slower than expected under a scenario of random extinctions, while phylogenetic diversity often decreased faster than expected by chance. Our results show that plant functional diversity was relatively robust to plant-pollinator coextinctions, despite the underlying rapid loss of evolutionary history. Thus, our study suggests the possibility of uncoupled responses of functional and phylogenetic diversity to species coextinctions, highlighting the importance of considering both dimensions of biodiversity explicitly in ecological studies and when planning for the conservation of species and interactions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biodiversity*
  • Extinction, Biological*
  • Models, Statistical
  • Phylogeny*
  • Plant Physiological Phenomena*
  • Plants / classification*
  • Pollination*
  • Stochastic Processes

Grants and funding

MCV is supported by a graduate scholarship from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq; www.cnpq.br). MVC and MAN received research fellowships (306843/2012-9 and 306870/2012-6, respectively) from the CNPq. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.