# Incorporating pollinator movement into connectivity models predicts pollen-mediated gene flow and highlights the importance of regenerating forests in tropical landscapes

## TL;DR

This study shows how pollinator movement affects pollen flow in tropical forests and highlights the importance of regenerating forests for conservation.

## Contribution

The study introduces functional connectivity metrics based on pollinator behavior to better predict pollen-mediated gene flow.

## Key findings

- Pollen flow is better predicted by structural connectivity at the focal patch scale.
- Functional connectivity metrics improve predictions at the local landscape scale.
- Regenerating forests and narrow forest elements are important for maintaining pollen flow.

## Abstract

Pollen-mediated gene flow is crucial for ecological and evolutionary processes and understanding its disruption by anthropogenic disturbances is essential for conservation.

In this study, we developed landscape connectivity metrics that incorporated hummingbird movement behaviour to assess how structural (amount and configuration) and functional (species-specific behavioural response) landscape connectivity influence pollen-mediated gene flow in a tropical plant species.

We adapted the incidence function model (IFM) to develop a set of functional landscape connectivity metrics that integrated field estimates of pollinator movement behaviour. We evaluated whether these metrics outperform structural landscape connectivity metrics for explaining contemporary pollen-mediated gene flow.

The performance of landscape connectivity metrics as predictors of contemporary pollen-mediated gene flow is scale dependent. At the focal patch scale, pollen-mediated gene flow was better predicted by structural connectivity metrics, specifically the area of contiguous mature forest. At the local landscape scale, pollen-mediated gene flow was better predicted by functional connectivity metrics that accounted for hummingbird movement, including gap-crossing probabilities. We found that including regenerating forests and narrow forest elements better explained pollen-mediated gene flow than a focus solely on mature forest.

By integrating hummingbird movement behaviour, we offer a more realistic and nuanced understanding of how landscapes influence pollen-mediated gene flow. We underscore the importance of accounting for pollinator movement behaviour in conservation strategies that aim to preserve pollen-mediated gene flow, and demonstrate that forest regeneration is critical for maintaining functional landscape connectivity in tropical fragmented landscapes.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10980-026-02309-y.