# Competition with wind-pollinated plant species alters floral traits of insect-pollinated plant species

## TL;DR

This study shows that wind-pollinated plants can reduce the attractiveness of insect-pollinated plants by altering their floral traits.

## Contribution

The study reveals how competition with wind-pollinated species affects floral traits of insect-pollinated species.

## Key findings

- Two out of three insect-pollinated species showed reduced floral traits when grown with wind-pollinated species.
- Stronger competition from wind-pollinated species led to greater reductions in floral rewards.
- The results highlight the need to consider the entire plant community in plant-pollinator interaction studies.

## Abstract

Plant traits related to attractiveness to pollinators (e.g. flowers and nectar) can be sensitive to abiotic or biotic conditions. Soil nutrient availability, as well as interactions among insect-pollinated plants species, can induce changes in flower and nectar production. However, further investigations are needed to determine the impact of interactions between insect-pollinated species and abiotically pollinated species on such floral traits, especially floral rewards. We carried out a pot experiment in which three insect-pollinated plant species were grown in binary mixtures with four wind-pollinated plant species, differing in their competitive ability. Along the flowering period, we measured floral traits of the insect-pollinated species involved in attractiveness to pollinators (i.e. floral display size, flower size, daily and total 1) flower production, 2) nectar volume, 3) amount of sucrose allocated to nectar). Final plant biomass was measured to quantify competitive interactions. For two out of three insect-pollinated species, we found that the presence of a wind-pollinated species can negatively impact floral traits involved in attractiveness to pollinators. This effect was stronger with wind-pollinated species that induced stronger competitive interactions. These results stress the importance of studying the whole plant community (and not just the insect-pollinated plant community) when working on plant-pollinator interactions.