Abstract
In this study we investigate the composition of the potential honeyeater pollinator community, patterns of honeyeater visitation, pollination and the mating system in a range of population fragments for the bird-pollinated mixed mating system shrub Calothamnus quadrifidus R.Br. Specifically, we aimed to answer the following questions. For smaller and more isolated population fragments are honeyeater species lost from the pollinator community, patterns of visitation different, levels of pollination lower and rates of selfing, biparental inbreeding and correlated paternity higher. The composition of the honeyeater community was similar across population fragments and there was no relationship between the abundance of birds and population fragment size. Honeyeaters were most commonly observed visiting numerous inflorescences within single plants in all populations, but as population fragments became larger movements between plants were more commonly observed. Our observations of honeyeater visitation were generally consistent with our measurements of pollination and patterns in the mating system across population fragments. We found no significant relationship between population fragment size and levels of pollination. Mating system studies showed outcrossing rates (t m) comparable to those found in other bird-pollinated Myrtaceae, and ranged from 0.54 to 0.90 across populations. Outcrossing rates were not significantly correlated with log population size, but correlations of outcrossed paternity indicate a clear trend from low correlated paternity in larger populations to significantly higher correlated paternities in smaller populations. As a consequence mating in small populations will occur between much smaller groups of plants, and this may affect population fitness in subsequent generations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aizen M.A., Ashworth L. and Galetto L. (2002). Reproductive success in fragmented habitats: do compatibility systems and pollination specialization matter?. J. Veget. Sci. 13: 885–892
Aizen M.A. and Feinsinger P. (1994). Forest fragmentation, pollination and plant reproduction in a chaco dry forest Argentina. Ecology 75: 330–351
Aizen M.A. and Feinsinger P. (2003). Bees not to be? Responses of insect pollinator faunas and flower pollination to habitat fragmentation. In: Bradshaw, G.A. and Marquet, P.A. (eds) How Landscapes Change, pp 111–129. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
Aldrich P.R. and Hamrick J.L. (1998). Reproductive dominance of pasture trees in a fragmented tropical forest mosaic. Science 28: 103–105
Barrett S.C.H., Harder L.D. and Worley A.C. (1996). The comparative biology of pollination and mating in flowering plants. Philos. Trans. Royal Soc. London 351: 1271–1280
Bond W.J. (1994). Do mutualisms matter? Assessing the impact of pollinator and disperser disruption on plant extinction. Philos. Trans. Royal Soc. London 344: 83–90
Bronstein J.L. (1995). The plant-pollinator landscape. In: Hansson, L., Fahrig, L. and Merriam, G. (eds) Mosaic Landscapes and Ecological Processes, pp 256–288. Chapman and Hall, London
Brown A.H.D. and Allard R.W. (1970). Estimation of the mating system in open pollinated maize populations using allozyme polymorphisms. Genetics 66: 133–145
Brown E.M., Burbidge A.H., Dell J., Edinger D., Hopper S.D. and Wills R.T. (1997). Pollination in Western Australia: A Database of Animals Visiting Flowers. Handbook No. 15. WA Naturalists’ Club, Perth
Bureau of Meterology 2005. What is the weather usually like? Averages for Western Australian sites. Available from www.bom.gov.au/eliminate/averages/tables/ca-wa-names.shtml (accessed March 2005).
Burvill G.H. (1979). The development of light lands. In: Burvill, G.H. (eds) Agriculture in Western Australia 1829–1979, pp 157–172. University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands
Cane J.H. (2001). Habitat fragmentation and native bees: a premature verdict?. Conserv. Ecol. 5: 1–12
Clarke K.R. and Warwick R.M. (2001). Change in Marine Communities: An Approach to Statistical Analysis and Interpretation. PRIMER-E. Plymouth Marine Laboratories, Plymouth
Coates D.J. (1988). Genetic diversity and population genetic structure in the rare Chittering grass wattle, Acacia anomala Court. Aust. J. Bot. 36: 273–286
Coates D.J. and Hamley V.L. (1999). Genetic divergence and the mating system in the endangered and geographically restricted species Lambertia orbifolia Gardner (Proteaceae). Heredity 83: 418–427
Collins B.G., Newland C. and Briffa P. (1984). Nectar utilization and pollination by Australian honeyeaters and insects visiting Calothamnus quadrifidus (Myrtaceae). Aust. J. Ecol. 9: 353–365
Cowling R.M., Rundel P.W., Lamont B.B., Arroyo M.K. and Arianoutsou M. (1996). Plant diversity in Mediterranean-climate regions. Trends Ecol. Evol. 11: 362–366
Cunningham S.A. (2000). Effects of habitat fragmentation on the reproductive ecology of four plant species in mallee woodland. Conserv. Biol. 14: 758–768
Donaldson J., Nanni I., Zachariades C. and Kemper J. (2002). Effects of habitat fragmentation on pollinator diversity and plant reproductive success in renosterveld shrublands of South Africa. Conserv. Biol. 16: 1267–1276
Fahrig L. (2003). Effects of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Systemat. 34: 487–515
Gibson N., Keighery G. and Keighery B. (2000). Threatened plant communities of Western Australia. 1. The ironstone communities of the Swan and Scott Coastal Plains. J. Royal Soc. 83: 1–11
Hobbs R.J. and Yates C.J. (2003). Turner Review No. 7 Impacts of ecosystem fragmentation on plant populations: generalizing the idiosyncratic. Aust. J. Bot. 51: 471–488
Hoebee S.E. and Young A.G. (2001). Low neighbourhood size and high interpopulation differentiation in the endangered shrub Grevillea iaspicula McGill (Proteaceae). Heredity 86: 489–496
Hopper S.D. (1981). Honeyeaters and their winter food plants on granite rocks in the central wheatbelt of Western Australia. Aust. Wildlife Res. 8: 187–197
Hopper S.D. and Moran G.F. (1981). Bird pollination and the mating system of Eucalyptus stoatei. Aust. J. Bot. 29: 625–638
Hopper S.D. and Gioia P. (2004). The South-west Australian Floristic Region: evolution and conservation of global hotspot of biodiversity. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 35: 623–650
Jennersten O. (1988). Pollination in Dianthus deltoides (Caryophyllaceae): effects of habitat fragmentation on visitation and seed set. Conserv. Biol. 2: 359–366
Keighery G.J. (1982). Bird-pollinated plants in Western Australia. In: Powell, J.M. and Richards, A.J. (eds) Pollination and Evolution, pp 77–90. Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney
Kennington W.J. and James S.H. (1997). The effect of small population size on the mating system of a rare clonal mallee, Eucalyptus argutifolia (Myrtaceae). Heredity 78: 252–260
Krebs C.J. (1999). Ecological Methodology. Addison Wesley Longman, Menlo Park
Lamont B.B., Klinkhamer P.G.L. and Witkowski E.T.F. (1993). Population fragmentation may reduce fertility to zero in Banksia goodii – a demonstration of the Allee effect. Oecologia 94: 446–450
Lynch J.F. and Saunders D.A. (1991). Responses of bird species to habitat fragmentation in the wheatbelt of Western Australia: interiors, edges and corridors. In: Saunders, D.A. and Hobbs, R.J. (eds) Nature Conservation 2: The Role of Corridors, pp 143–158. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, Australia
Murcia C. (1996). Forest fragmentation and the pollination of neotropical plants. In: Schelhas, J. and Greenberg, R. (eds) Forest Patches in Tropical Landscapes, pp 19–36. Island Press, Washington DC
Myers N., Mittermeier R.A., Mittermeier C.G. and Kent J. (2000). Biodiversity hot spots for conservation priorities. Nature 403: 803–808
Obbens F.J., Davis R.W. and Sage L.W. (2001). Vegetation, flora and recommendations for conservation management of the Jingaring nature reserve: a “botanical gem” in the Western Australian wheat-belt. J. Royal Soc. Western Aust. 84: 53–61
Potts B.M. and Wiltshire R.J.E. (1997). Eucalypt genetics and genecology. In: Williams, J.E. and Woinarski, J.C.Z. (eds) Eucalypt Ecology. Individuals to Ecosystems, pp 56–91. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Pyke G.H. (1983). Seasonal patterns of abundance of honeyeaters and their resources in heathland areas near Sydney. Aust. J. Ecol. 8: 217–233
Ritland K. (1989). Correlated matings in the partial selfer, Mimulus guttatus. Heredity 47: 35–52
Ritland K. (2002). Extension of models for the estimation of mating systems using n independent loci. Heredity 88: 367–368
Ritland K. and Jain S. (1981). A model for the estimation of outcrossing rate and gene frequencies using n independent loci. Heredity 47: 35–52
Sampson J.F., Coates D.J. and Leeuwen S.J.V. (1996). Mating system variation in animal-pollinated rare and endangered plant populations in Western Australia. In: Hopper, S.D., Chappill, J.A., Harvey, M.S., and George, A.S. (eds) Gondwanan Heritage: PastPresent and Future of the Western Australian Biota, pp 187–195. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, New South Wales
Sampson J.F., Hopper S.D. and James S.H. (1989). The mating system and population genetic structure in a bird pollinated mallee, Eucalyptus rhodantha. Heredity 63: 383–393
Sampson J.F., Hopper S.D. and James S.H. (1995). The mating system and genetic diversity of the Australian arid zone mallee, Eucalyptus rameliana. Aust. J. Bot. 43: 461–474
Saunders D.A. and Ingram J.A. (1995). Birds of Southwestern Australia. An Atlas of Changes in the Distribution and Abundance of the Wheatbelt Avifauna. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, NSW
Saunders D.A. and Rebeira C.P.d. (1991). Values of corridors to avian populations in a fragmented landscape. In: Saunders, D.A. and Hobbs, R.J. (eds) Nature Conservation 2: The Role of Corridors, pp 221–240. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, New South Wales
Schmidt-Adam G., Young A.G. and Murray B.G. (2000). Low outcrossing rates and shift in pollinators in New Zealand Pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsar; Myrtaceae). Am. J. Bot. 87: 1265–1271
Smith-Ramirez C. and Armesto J.J. (2003). Foraging behaviour of bird pollinators on Embothrium coccineum (Proteaceae) trees in forest fragments and pastures in southern Chile. Austral Ecol. 28: 53–60
Turner I.M., Chua K.S., Ong J.S.Y., Soong B.C. and Tan H.T.W. (1996). A century of lowland species loss from an isolated fragment of lowland tropical rain forest. Conserv. Biol. 10: 1229–1244
Walker B. (1995). Conserving biological diversity through ecosystem resilience. Conserv. Biol. 9: 747–752
Wallace K.J. (1998). Dongolocking Pilot Planning Project for Remnant Vegetation, Final Report (Phase 1). Department of Conservation and Land Management, Perth
Weir B.S. (1990). Genetic Data Analysis. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts
Whelan R.J., Ayre D.J., England P.R., Llorens T. and Beynon F. (2000). Ecology and genetics of Grevillea (Proteaceae): implications for conservation of fragmented populations. In: Young, A.G. and Clarke, G.M. (eds) Genetics, Demography and Viability of Fragmented Populations, pp 253–269. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Whelan R.J. and Burbidge A.H. (1980). Flowering phenology, seed setand bird pollination of five Western Australian Banksia species. Aust. J. Ecol. 5: 1–7
Wright S. (1978). Evolution and the Genetics of Populations, Vol 4, Variability Within and Among Natural Populations. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Yates C.J. and Ladd P.G. (2005). Relative importance of reproductive biology and establishment ecology for persistence of a rare shrub in a fragmented landscape. Conserv. Biol. 19: 239–249
Yeh F.C. and Boyle T.J.B. (1997). POPGENE Version 1.1. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
Young A.G., Brown A.H.D., Murray B.G., Thrall P.H. and Miller C. (2000). Genetic erosion, restricted mating and reduced viability in fragmented populations of the endangered grassland herb Rutiodsis leptorrhynchoides. In: Young, A.G. and Clarke, G.M. (eds) Genetics, Demography and Viability of Fragmented Populations, pp 335–359. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yates, C.J., Coates, D.J., Elliott, C. et al. Composition of the pollinator community, pollination and the mating system for a shrub in fragments of species rich kwongan in south-west Western Australia. Biodivers Conserv 16, 1379–1395 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-006-6736-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-006-6736-y