BACKGROUND Habitat loss is one of the principal causes of the current pollinator decline. With agricultural intensification, increasing urbanisation is among the main drivers of habitat loss. Consequently studies focusing on pollinator community structure along urbanisation gradients have increased in recent years. However, few studies have investigated how urbanisation affects plant-pollinator...

Abstract Global biodiversity declines are attributed to many factors, including landscape fragmentation and vegetation homogenization. These patterns may be exacerbated by the intensification of management in agroecosystems, as meet increasing demand for food, fuel, fiber often comes at cost subsequent ecosystem functions services. Conserving will necessary create sustainable agroecosystems cap...

Active pollination has evolved four times in brood site mutualisms. When is active, the pollinator's behaviour specifically evolves to ensure flower fertilisation. In functionally dioecious Ficus species, male figs host pollinating wasp larvae, while wasps cannot breed female because styles are longer than ovipositor. Here we investigate hispida. We show that figs, every time laid an egg into a...

Biotic pollination is typically a mutualism between plants and their pollinators, where each partner receives benefit. However, can resort to various reproductive strategies attract pollinators. Within angiosperms, group of known as endoparasites comprised only flowers or inflorescences. These exhibit strategies, such different sexual systems attractants, most are dependent on animals for polli...

Nesting insects perform learning flights to establish a visual representation of the nest environment that allows them to subsequently return to the nest. It has remained unclear when insects learn what during these flights, what determines their overall structure, and, in particular, how what is learned is used to guide an insect's return. We analyzed learning flights in ground-nesting wasps (...

Examining variations in pollinator effectiveness can enhance our understanding of how pollinators and plants interact. Pollen deposition and seed production after a single visit by a pollinator are often used to estimate pollinator effectiveness. However, seed production is not always directly related to pollen deposition because not all pollen grains that are deposited on a stigma are compatib...

Understanding the functional consequences of biodiversity loss is a major goal of ecology. Animal-mediated pollination is an essential ecosystem function and service provided to mankind. However, little is known how pollinator diversity could affect pollination services. Using a substitutive design, we experimentally manipulated functional group (FG) and species richness of pollinator communiti...

Insect pollination underpins apple production but the extent to which different pollinator guilds supply this service, particularly across different apple varieties, is unknown. Such information is essential if appropriate orchard management practices are to be targeted and proportional to the potential benefits pollinator species may provide. Here we use a novel combination of pollinator effec...