4.7 Article

Nonadditive effects of two contrasting introduced herbivores on the reproduction of a pollination-specialized palm

Journal

ECOLOGY
Volume 103, Issue 11, Pages -

Publisher

WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3797

Keywords

Chamaerops humilis; goat; herbivory; inflorescence damage; introduced herbivore; leaf damage; nonadditive effects; palm; Paysandisia archon; pollination-specialized plant; reproductive success

Categories

Funding

  1. European Commission
  2. Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion [PGC2018-094808-B-I00]
  3. Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades

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Plant-animal interactions have a wide range of effects on plant reproductive success. This study examines the isolated and joint effects of two introduced herbivores on pollinator abundance and plant reproductive success in the Mediterranean dwarf palm.
Plant-animal interactions fall within a mutualism-antagonism continuum, exerting a wide range of effects on plant reproductive success. These effects become even more complex and diverse when several disparate animal species interact with the same plant species. Despite the increasing number of studies about the influence of herbivory on plant performance, the outcomes mediated by pollination and the combined impact of multiple herbivores on pollination-specialized plants are underexplored. In this study, we chose the Mediterranean dwarf palm Chamaerops humilis (Arecaceae) to illustrate the isolated and joint effect of two contrasting introduced herbivores, the palm borer Paysandisia archon (Lepidoptera, Castniidae) and feral goats, on pollinator abundance and plant reproductive success. To this aim, we monitored moth herbivory and goat herbivory in four palm populations in Mallorca (Balearic Islands) during 2019 and 2020. The effect of herbivory varied widely depending on both the herbivore and the pollinator species. Moth herbivory had a positive effect on pollinator abundance and fruit initiation, whereas goat herbivory had a negative effect on inflorescence production, pollinator abundance and fruit initiation. In addition, both herbivores exerted unexpected nonadditive effects on palm reproduction. Palms attacked by both herbivore species produced many more inflorescences (up to 18-fold) but had a lower fruit initiation success (close to zero) than unattacked palms or those attacked by a single herbivore species. Interestingly, only one of the two main pollinator species (the nitidulid beetle Meligethinus pallidulus) was impacted by herbivory. Our study highlights the need to investigate the possible nonadditive effects of all coexisting herbivores on plant performance, especially when establishing conservation plans and pest control strategies.

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