The selection of plant provenance for ecological restoration is an intensively debated topic. Throughout this debate, arguments mostly focus on plant performance, but little attention is paid to the effects of provenance on other members of the restored ecosystem. On the other hand, in restoration projects that focus specifically on supporting interacting biota, for example, flower stripes among fields to support pollinators, the provenance choice is often not considered, partly because the effect of provenance on pollinators is unknown. In this pioneering case study, we tested whether pollinators differentiate between experimental plant communities of different provenances.

We established experimental plant communities with the same species composition but with plants originating from three different provenances. We then recorded plant phenology and observed pollinators and flower visitors interacting with these experimental communities and related the pollinator visitation to the provenance identity. 

The provenances of the experimental plant communities had a strong and significant effect on the diversity and abundance of flower-pollinator interactions, with one provenance interacting twice as often as the other two provenances. The effect was driven by the differences in flowering phenology among provenances.

Synthesis and applications: Plant provenances substantially differ in their interactions with local pollinators. Therefore, the selection of plant provenance should be considered when planning restoration projects for the support of pollinators.

See the paper.

Data to:
Plant provenance affects pollinator network: implications for ecological restoration
Bucharova et al., Journal of Applied Ecology

### Flower_resources_phenology.txt ###
# Data on plant phenology
Community ID – identification number of the plant experimental community (each community consists of six plant species, each species represented by one plant)
Provenance – provenance of the plant experimental community (=all species in the community)
Day – day of the year when the observation was done
Species – plant species
NumberOfFlowers – number of open flowers each plant had on given day of observation

### Flower_pollinator_interaction.txt ###
# Data on plant-pollinator interactions
RowNumber – row number
CommunityID - identification number of the plant experimental community (each community consists of six plant species, each species represented by one plant)
Provenance  - provenance of the plant experimental community (=all plant species in the experimental community)
PlantSpecies – identity of plant species
ObservationDate – there were three observation dates – 1st,2nd,3rd
PollinatorSpecies – identity of the pollinator taxa involved in the flower-pollinator interaction
NumberOfInteractions – the number of interactions between given pollinator and flowers of given plant species at given observation day