RT Journal Article
T1 Effect of green infrastructure on restoration of pollination networks and plant performance in semi‐natural dry grasslands across Europe
A1 Traveset, Anna
A1 Lara Romero, Carlos
A1 Santamaría, Silvia
A1 Escribano Ávila, Gema
A1 Bullock, James M.
A1 Honnay, Olivier
A1 Hooftman, Danny A. P.
A1 Kimberley, Adam
A1 Krickl, Patricia
A1 Plue, Jan
A1 Poschlod, Peter
A1 Cousins, Sara A. O.
AB Agricultural intensification, afforestation and land abandonment are major drivers of biodiversity loss in semi-natural grasslands across Europe. Reversing these losses requires the reinstatement of plant–animal interactions such as pollination. Here we assessed the differences in species composition and patterns of plant-pollinator interactions in ancient and restored grasslands and how these patterns are influenced by landscape connectivity, across three European regions (Belgium, Germany and Sweden). We evaluated the differences in pollinator community assemblage, abundance and interaction network structure between 24 ancient and restored grasslands. We then assessed the effect of surrounding landscape functional connectivity (i.e. green infrastructure, GI) on these variables and tested possible consequences on the reproduction of two model plants, Lotus corniculatus and Salvia pratensis. Neither pollinator richness nor species composition differed between ancient and restored grasslands. A high turnover of interactions across grasslands was detected but was mainly due to replacement of pollinator and plant species. The impact of grassland restoration was consistent across various pollinator functional groups, whereas the surrounding GI had differential effects. Notably, bees, butterflies, beetles, and dipterans (excluding hoverflies) exhibited the most significant responses to GI variations. Interestingly, networks in restored grasslands were more specialised (i.e. less functionally redundant) than in ancient ones and also showed a higher number of insect visits to habitat-generalist plant species. Landscape connectivity had a similar effect, with habitat-specialist plant species receiving fewer visits at higher GI values. Fruit set in S. pratensis and L. corniculatus was unaffected by grassland type or GI. However, the fruit set in the specialist S. pratensis increased with the number of pollinator visits, indicating a positive correlation between pollinator activity and reproductive success in this particular species. Synthesis and applications. Our findings provide evidence of the necessity to enhance ecosystem functions while avoiding biotic homogenisation. Restoration programs should aim at increasing landscape connectivity which influences plant communities, pollinator assemblages and their interaction patterns. To avoid generalist species taking over from specialists in restored grasslands, we suggest reinforcing the presence of specialist species in the latter, for instance by means of introductions, as well as increasing the connectivity to source populations.
PB British Ecological Society
SN 0021-8901
YR 2024
FD 2024-02-25
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/118851
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/118851
LA eng
NO Traveset, A., Lara-Romero, C., Santamaría, S., Escribano-Ávila, G., Bullock, J. M., Honnay, O., Hooftman, D. A. P., Kimberley, A., Krickl, P., Plue, J., Poschlod, P., & Cousins, S. A. O. (2024). Effect of green infrastructure on restoration of pollination networks and plant performance in semi-natural dry grasslands across Europe. Journal of Applied Ecology, 61(5), 1015-1028. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14592
NO This research was funded through the 2015–2016 BiodivERsA COFUND call for research proposals, with the national funders FORMAS (2016–01948), the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket), the Belgian Science Policy Office (BelSPo, BELPSPO/BR/175/A1/FUNgreen), the Germany Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium fuer Bildung und Forschung, FKZ: 01LC1619A) and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, PCIN-2016-077). JMB was funded under UKCEH National Capability project 06895; DAPH was contracted from Stockholm University as external scientist (contract reference 463). CLR was supported by a Juan de la Cierva Formación postdoctoral fellowship (Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad: FJCI-2015-24712).
NO European Commission
NO Naturvårdsverket
NO Belgian Science Policy Office
NO Bundesministerium fuer Bildung und Forschung
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)
NO UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
NO Stockholms universitet
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 13 abr 2025