Vulnerability of bat–plant pollination interactions due to environmental change
Vulnerability of bat–plant pollination interactions due to environmental change
Plant–pollinator interactions are highly relevant to society as many crops important for humans are animal pollinated. However, changes in climate and land use may put such interacting patterns at risk by disrupting the occurrences between pollinators and the plants they pollinate. Here, we analyse how the co-occurrence patterns between bat pollinators and 126 plant species they pollinate may be disrupted given changes in climate and land use, and we forecast relevant changes of the current bat–plant co-occurrence distribution patterns for the near future. We predict under RCP8.5 21% of the territory will experience a loss of bat species richness, plants with C3 metabolism are predicted to reduce their area of distribution by 6.5%, CAM species are predicted to increase their potential area of distribution up to 1% and phanerophytes are predicted to have a 14% reduction in their distribution. The potential bat–plant interactions are predicted to decrease from an average of 47.1 co-occurring bat–plant pairs in the present to 34.1 in the pessimistic scenario. The overall changes in suitable environmental conditions for bats and the plant species they pollinate may disrupt the current bat–plant co-occurrence network and will likely put at risk the pollination services bat species provide.
bat traits, Chiroptera, climate change, habitat suitability, land use change, Mexico, plant traits
3367-3382
Zamora-Gutierrez, Veronica
17a6b9d9-3346-4df6-9438-026b7342e28a
Rivera-Villanueva, A. Nayelli
d63f152a-0489-410d-a7da-f3796144cdd9
Martínez Balvanera, Santiago
f0b7c8c9-a73b-4cfd-aca8-f647a5a60427
Castro-Castro, Arturo
f5bc2188-59cd-4c3d-9c08-f1b6bcbdbcd3
Aguirre-Gutiérrez, Jesús
22b24ae5-3fd5-44cd-9a98-e61a90655565
22 March 2021
Zamora-Gutierrez, Veronica
17a6b9d9-3346-4df6-9438-026b7342e28a
Rivera-Villanueva, A. Nayelli
d63f152a-0489-410d-a7da-f3796144cdd9
Martínez Balvanera, Santiago
f0b7c8c9-a73b-4cfd-aca8-f647a5a60427
Castro-Castro, Arturo
f5bc2188-59cd-4c3d-9c08-f1b6bcbdbcd3
Aguirre-Gutiérrez, Jesús
22b24ae5-3fd5-44cd-9a98-e61a90655565
Zamora-Gutierrez, Veronica, Rivera-Villanueva, A. Nayelli, Martínez Balvanera, Santiago, Castro-Castro, Arturo and Aguirre-Gutiérrez, Jesús
(2021)
Vulnerability of bat–plant pollination interactions due to environmental change.
Global Change Biology, 27 (14), .
(doi:10.1111/gcb.15611).
Abstract
Plant–pollinator interactions are highly relevant to society as many crops important for humans are animal pollinated. However, changes in climate and land use may put such interacting patterns at risk by disrupting the occurrences between pollinators and the plants they pollinate. Here, we analyse how the co-occurrence patterns between bat pollinators and 126 plant species they pollinate may be disrupted given changes in climate and land use, and we forecast relevant changes of the current bat–plant co-occurrence distribution patterns for the near future. We predict under RCP8.5 21% of the territory will experience a loss of bat species richness, plants with C3 metabolism are predicted to reduce their area of distribution by 6.5%, CAM species are predicted to increase their potential area of distribution up to 1% and phanerophytes are predicted to have a 14% reduction in their distribution. The potential bat–plant interactions are predicted to decrease from an average of 47.1 co-occurring bat–plant pairs in the present to 34.1 in the pessimistic scenario. The overall changes in suitable environmental conditions for bats and the plant species they pollinate may disrupt the current bat–plant co-occurrence network and will likely put at risk the pollination services bat species provide.
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Published date: 22 March 2021
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
V.Z.G. and A.C.C. thank the Instituto Politécnico Nacional for the research grant SIP‐20201307: Taxonomy and ecology of the magueyes cenizos (Agave group Ditepalae) used in the mezcal industry of central‐western Mexico. A.N.R.V. (1004537) and S.M.B. acknowledge funding from CONACYT (2020‐000017‐02EXTF‐00334). J.A.G. was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, NERC (NE/T011084/1) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) under the Rubicon programme (019.162LW.010). We are grateful to Emma Gómez‐Ruíz and Burton Lim for providing information of bats traits and to Pedro Aguilar‐Rodríguez for providing Bromeliaceae species occurrence data.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Keywords:
bat traits, Chiroptera, climate change, habitat suitability, land use change, Mexico, plant traits
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 486689
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/486689
ISSN: 1354-1013
PURE UUID: 5adf0eea-92a9-40ab-ba93-d85dd90fc471
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Date deposited: 01 Feb 2024 17:46
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:18
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Contributors
Author:
Veronica Zamora-Gutierrez
Author:
A. Nayelli Rivera-Villanueva
Author:
Santiago Martínez Balvanera
Author:
Arturo Castro-Castro
Author:
Jesús Aguirre-Gutiérrez
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