Bee and plant traits drive temporal similarity of pollination interactions in areas under distinct restoration strategies

Abstract

One of the ways to evaluate the success of restoration strategies in degraded areas, in terms of restoring pollination, key process for the reproduction of most angiosperm species, is evaluating species traits, how they respond to changes in the environment and influence their interacting partners. In this study we asked: (i) does the phenological variation, the restoration strategy and the restoration age influence species richness, abundance, species composition and distribution of traits of bees and plants? (ii) do functionally similar species tend to interact with the same mutualistic partners? (iii) what are the most important traits that explain the similarity of interacting partners? We analyzed bee and plant communities in restored areas in the Atlantic Forest. We found that bee richness and abundance did not vary, and plant richness varied temporally. Bee and plant composition changed over time and among restoration strategies. Plant composition also varied with the restoration age. Functional composition, especially of bees, varied little among the tested factors. We also found that species with similar traits tended to interact with similar partners, and bee size, proboscis length and nesting sites were the most important traits to explain the interactions, while for plants, the most important traits were form of life, corolla color and shape. Our study demonstrated that interactions between bees and plants can be mediated by plant phenology and, considering that plant traits filter pollinators’ traits, the choice of plant traits in restoration areas is fundamental for interactions.