Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2010 Jan 14;5(1):e8711. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008711.
In the emerging field of community and ecosystem genetics, genetic variation and diversity in dominant plant species have been shown to play fundamental roles in maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem function. However, the importance of intraspecific genetic variation and diversity to floral abundance and pollinator visitation has received little attention.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using an experimental common garden that manipulated genotypic diversity (the number of distinct genotypes per plot) of Solidago altissima, we document that genotypic diversity of a dominant plant can indirectly influence flower visitor abundance. Across two years, we found that 1) plant genotype explained 45% and 92% of the variation in flower visitor abundance in 2007 and 2008, respectively; and 2) plant genotypic diversity had a positive and non-additive effect on floral abundance and the abundance of flower visitors, as plots established with multiple genotypes produced 25% more flowers and received 45% more flower visits than would be expected under an additive model.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results provide evidence that declines in genotypic diversity may be an important but little considered factor for understanding plant-pollinator dynamics, with implications for the global decline in pollinators due to reduced plant diversity in both agricultural and natural ecosystems.
在新兴的社区和生态系统遗传学领域，优势植物物种的遗传变异和多样性已被证明在维持生物多样性和生态系统功能方面发挥着基础性作用。然而，种内遗传变异和多样性对花的丰度和传粉者访问的重要性却很少受到关注。
方法/主要发现：利用一个实验性的公共花园，我们操纵了紫菀（Solidago altissima）的基因型多样性（每个样方中不同基因型的数量），记录了优势植物的基因型多样性可以间接地影响花访客的丰度。在两年的时间里，我们发现：1）植物基因型在 2007 年和 2008 年分别解释了花访客丰度变化的 45%和 92%；2）植物基因型多样性对花的丰度和传粉者的丰度有积极的非加性效应，因为由多个基因型建立的样方产生的花比加性模型预期的多 25%，而收到的花访问量则多 45%。
结论/意义：这些结果为以下观点提供了证据，即遗传多样性的减少可能是理解植物-传粉者动态的一个重要但尚未被充分考虑的因素，这对由于农业和自然生态系统中植物多样性减少而导致的全球传粉者减少具有重要意义。
