A conceptual framework linking pollen limitation and seed dispersal
effectiveness
Abstract
Seed production and dispersal are crucial ecological processes impacting
plant demography, species distributions, and community assembly.
Plant-animal interactions commonly mediate both seed production and seed
dispersal, but current research often examines pollination and seed
dispersal separately, which hinders our understanding of how pollination
services affect downstream dispersal services. To fill this gap, we
propose a conceptual framework exploring how pollen limitation can
impact the effectiveness of seed dispersal for endozoochorous and
myrmecochorous plant species. We summarize the quantitative and
qualitative effects of pollen limitation on plant reproduction and use
Optimal Foraging Theory to predict its impact on the foraging behavior
of seed dispersers. In doing so, we offer a new framework that poses
numerous hypotheses and empirical tests to investigate downstream
effects of pollen limitation on seed dispersal effectiveness and,
consequently, post-dispersal ecological processes occurring at different
levels of biological organization. Finally, considering the importance
of pollination and seed dispersal outcomes to plant eco-evolutionary
dynamics, we discussed the implications of our framework for future
studies exploring the demographic and evolutionary impacts of pollen
limitation for animal-dispersed plants.