Neighbourhood flower diversity increases reproductive success of Lantana hypoleuca Briq (Verbenaceae)

Abstract

The attraction of floral visitors depends on intrinsic plant traits and the surrounding floral abundance and diversity. Therefore, it is important to consider the conspecific and heterospecific co-flowering context to understand plant-pollinator interactions and, consequently, plant reproductive success. We investigated the influence of the floral neighbourhood on pollination of Lantana hypoleuca (Verbenaceae) in the Brazilian Campos rupestres. We evaluated how flower richness, conspecific and heterospecific abundance, and similarity in corolla length influence reproductive success (conspecific pollen deposition, heterospecific pollen deposition, and likelihood of fruit production) of L. hypoleuca individuals. For this, we evaluated the surrounding neighbourhood of 20 L. hypoleuca individuals. We recorded 73 visits of bees, butterflies, and wasps. Conspecific pollen was not related to any of the studied variables, while heterospecific pollen increased with plant richness. Finally, the likelihood of fruit production increased with plant species richness and decreased with conspecific floral abundance. The positive effect of plant species richness on plant reproduction suggests facilitative interactions, in which higher community diversity may attract a more diverse set of pollinators to L. hypoleuca. Our results stress the importance of assessing multiple community features and plant reproductive steps to better understand the complex co-flowering effects on pollination and reproduction.