Relative floral density of an invasive plant affects pollinator foraging behaviour on a native plant

by Amy M. Iler & Karen Goodell

Flowers of Amur honeysuckle, an invasive plant species in Eastern North America.

Invasive plants act like weeds, overtaking natural ecosystems.  In addition to crowding out native plants, invasive plants can also steal pollinators from them.  Alternatively, the showy floral displays of invasive plants have also been shown to attract pollinators that spill over onto native plants, thus benefiting native plant pollination.

Here we created artificial arrays of native and invasive flowers to test the idea that relative floral densities may explain why invasive plants can have both negative and positive effects on native plant pollination.  We studied the invasive plant Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) and the native plant wild geranium (Geranium maculatum).  

Read the whole summary in: English!
Read the scientific publication in JPE.