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Dryad

Data from: Pollen on stigmas of herbarium specimens: a window into the impacts of a century of environmental disturbance on pollen transfer

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Apr 11, 2019 version files 10.44 MB

Abstract

Pollination is necessary for plant reproduction, but often highly susceptible to disruption, e.g., by habitat fragmentation and climate change. Here, we evaluated on a century time scale pollination interactions for species in one of the historically most disturbed habitats on earth-- tropical dry forests of Hawai’i. We employed a novel method for acquiring a historical perspective on temporal change in pollination by characterizing pollen on stigmas of herbarium specimens from six remnant native species collected from 1909-2002. We determine whether temporal shifts occurred in 1) pollination quantity and quality, or 2) the composition of species interacting via pollen transfer. While pollen quantity remained constant, these remnant species interact with different species in modern times via pollen transfer than they did nearly 100 years ago. Species which are resilient to long-term environmental change may also be the ones subject to changes in pollination interactions.