The prestigious Journal of Ecology recently published Felipe Torres Vanegas' paper: Tropical deforestation reduces plant mating quality by shifting the functional composition of pollinator communities
Felipe Torres Vanegas is a PhD student in Prof. Helene Wagner's Lab
Deforestation primarily influenced plant mating quality through a cascading effect mediated by functional shifts in the composition of the pollinator community. Our results indicate that plant mating quality strongly depends on the composition of local pollinator communities. Functional shifts that filter out highly mobile and effective pollinators may reduce the transfer of genetically diverse pollen loads from unrelated plants. Such shifts may have pronounced effects on plant population dynamics and disrupt genetic connectivity.
