3.1 Pollinator and plant communities
The field survey yielded 333 pollinator insects belonging to 25
morpho-species. Specifically, 72.4% of the individuals were Anthophila
bees, 12.% wasps, 10.2% Syrphidae, and 5.4% were Bombyliidae flies.
These were identified with DNA barcoding, in Supporting information,
Table S2 - List of collected pollinator species and DNA barcode
sequence. The most represented and widely distributed taxa wereLasioglossum albescens with 79 individuals, followed byBraunsapis picitarsis with 53 individuals and Xylocopa
fenestrata with 42 individuals. Considering plants, 48 flowering
species were observed in the sampling sites during the survey of flower
species richness, with a minimum of 3 and maximum of 14 flowering
species present in each site. The most widespread species among sampling
sites were Tridax procumbens , Cyanthillium sp ,Scaevola taccada , and Wollastonia biflora. Details on the
flowering plants observed in sampling sites are reported in Supporting
information, Table S3. Concerning the effects of habitat fragmentation
on pollinator communities (Table 1), the edge density had a significant,
positive effect in increasing pollinator species richness (Fig 2 a),
while no significant effects were found in response to flower species
richness.