Commonness and rarity of pollinators: species abundance and diversity in a hyperdiverse Mediterranean assemblage

Carlos M Herrera

doi:10.26786/1920-7603(2026)931

Authors

Carlos M Herrera Estacion Biologica de Donana, CSIC Avenida Americo Vespucio 26 Isla de La Cartuja E-41092 Sevilla, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2452-3888

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26786/1920-7603(2026)931

Keywords:

Hill numbers, log-series model, long-term studies, Mediterranean montane habitats, pollinator species diversity, species abundance distribution

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of patterns of species abundance and diversity in a hyperdiverse pollinator assemblage from Mediterranean montane habitats of southeastern Spain. Data on pollinator visitation to flowers of the community of entomophilous plants (288 species) were gathered over 29 years, and ~95% of individual pollinators recorded were identified to species, totalling 46,401 individuals in 845 species. Shapes of species abundance distributions (SADs) were virtually identical at the regional (N = 56 sites) and local (one intensively studied site) scales, remained invariant over the study period, and were best predicted by the log-series distribution. Pollinator diversity estimates corresponding to the first three Hill numbers (Species richness, Shannon diversity and Simpson diversity; ⁰D, ¹D and ²D, respectively) were obtained for each plant species x site x year combinations (N=472 "sampling occasions"). Pollinator diversity measures varied widely among plant species; their frequency distributions were unimodal and strongly right-skewed; and interspecific variation was related to plant phylogeny, floral features and pollinator visitation rates. Pollinator diversity of individual plant species depended on habitat type, with dolomitic outcrops, rock cliffs and forest interior harbouring the least diverse pollinator assemblages. Variation of ⁰D, ¹D and ²D among habitats and years was largely decoupled, revealing a complex patterning of pollinator species richness and dominance. Estimated proportions of undetected pollinator diversity ("dark diversity") varied with insect order (lowest for Lepidoptera, highest for Diptera). The adoption of community ecology tools for assessing pollinator diversity improves our ability to elucidate pollinator responses to natural and anthropogenic environmental change, and permits hitherto unexplored questions in pollination ecology.

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