Abstract
Biological invasions are among the greatest threats to biodiversity today. Studies have shown that alien plants can replace natives by competition for space and nutrients. However, although pollination is vital for reproductive success in about 90 % of angiosperm plants, little is know about whether aliens compete with natives for this service. This project will investigate how a native flora is affected by the mutualisms established between alien plants and native pollinators. First, a complete pollination network will be mapped in a habitat that harbours a large amount of alien plant species. This will allow us to investigate how alien plants integrate into a native plant pollination network. Knowledge about the centrality of positions occupied, interaction strengths and abundance of the alien plants will allow estimations of their potential to affect the native flora. Second, an experiment will be performed to estimate how pollinator visitation, seed set and seed size is affected in a native target species when it grows in the vicinity of alien species. The species used in the experiment will be a subset from the mapped pollination network. To study the ability of invasive species to establish facilitative interactions in their new environment is of importance for our understanding of biological invasions. Furthermore, to be able to predict the effect of alien plant on pollination interactions whole pollination networks has to be studied.
Sweden