Premium
Moderate fire severity is best for the diversity of most of the pollinator guilds in Mediterranean pine forests
Author(s) -
Lazarina Maria,
Devalez Jelle,
Neokosmidis Lazaros,
Sgardelis Stefanos P.,
Kallimanis Athanasios S.,
Tscheulin Thomas,
Tsalkatis Panagiotis,
Kourtidou Marina,
Mizerakis Vangelis,
Nakas Georgios,
Palaiologou Palaiologos,
Kalabokidis Konstantinos,
Vujic Ante,
Petanidou Theodora
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.1002/ecy.2615
Subject(s) - pollinator , ecology , disturbance (geology) , biology , abundance (ecology) , fire regime , pollination , geography , ecosystem , pollen , paleontology
Fire, a frequent disturbance in the Mediterranean, affects pollinator communities. We explored the response of major pollinator guilds to fire severity, across a fire‐severity gradient at different spatial scales. We show that the abundance of all pollinator groups responded to fire severity, and that bees and beetles showed in addition a significant species‐diversity response. Bees, sawflies, and wasps responded to fire severity at relatively small spatial scales (250–300 m), whereas flies and beetles responded at larger spatial scales. The response of bees, sawflies, and wasps was unimodal, as predicted by the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, whereas flies and beetles showed a negative response. A possible explanation is that the observed patterns (spatial scale and type of response) are driven by taxa‐specific ecological and life‐history traits, such as nesting preference and body size, as well as the availability of resources in the postfire landscape. Our observational study provides an insight into the effect of fire severity on pollinators. However, future research exploring the explicit link between the pre‐ and postfire landscape structure and pollinator traits and responses is required for further establishment and understanding of cause–effect relationships.