DOI: 10.5061/dryad.s1rn8pkc7
title: Pollinator foraging tactics have divergent consequences for the mating system of a tropical plant

description: Resolving the consequences of pollinator foraging behaviour for plant
 mating systems is a fundamental challenge in evolutionary ecology.
 Pollinators may adopt particular foraging tactics: complete trapline
 foraging (repeated movements along a fixed route), sample-and-shift
 trapline foraging (a variable route that incorporates information from
 previous experiences), and territorial foraging (stochastic movements
 within a restricted area). Studies that integrate these pollinator
 foraging tactics with plant mating systems are generally lacking. We
 investigate the consequences of particular pollinator foraging tactics for
 Heliconia tortuosa. We combine parentage and sibship inference analysis
 with simulation modeling to: (1) estimate mating system parameters; (2)
 infer the foraging tactic adopted by the pollinators; and (3) quantify the
 impact of pollinator foraging tactics on mating system parameters. We
 found high outcrossing rates, ubiquitous multiple paternity, and a
 pronounced departure from near-neighbour mating. We also found that plants
 repeatedly receive pollen from a series of particular donors. We infer
 that the pollinators primarily adopt complete trapline foraging and
 occasionally engage in sample-and-shift trapline foraging. This enhances
 multiple paternity without a substantial increase in near-neighbour
 mating. The particular pollinator foraging tactics have divergent
 consequences for multiple paternity and near-neighbour mating. Thus,
 pollinator foraging behaviour is an important driver of the ecology and
 evolution of plant mating systems.
description: We performed parentage and sibship inference analysis using
 COLONY2 V2.0.6.6. Parentage assignments were used to estimate the rate of
 self-pollination, near-neighbour mating (proportion of seeds sired by a
 maternal plant from the same sampling location) and non-near-neighbour
 mating (proportion of seeds sired by a maternal or unsampled plant from
 beyond the sampling location). Excluding seeds classified as
 self-pollination and the seed with an ambiguous parentage assignment, we
 estimated correlated paternity in a hierarchical fashion: within maternal
 plants, within fruits, and among fruits from the same bract.
 We performed pattern-oriented simulation modeling to infer the
 particular foraging tactic adopted by the pollinators of
 <em>H</em>. <em>tortuosa</em>. We defined and
 assessed four parameters of pollinator foraging that represented: (1) the
 probability that a seed was sired by the last-visited plant (p); (2) the
 frequency at which pollinators engage in sample-and-shift trapline
 foraging (PSST), relative to complete trapline foraging; (3) the amount of
 pollen removed, on average, from a flower when pollinators ‘sample’ a
 particular plant during sample-and-shift trapline foraging (PRMV),
 relative to complete trapline foraging; and (4) the ideal number of
 near-neighbour plants involved in sample-and-shift trapline foraging
 (NNBR). We used a broad range of values for each parameter of pollinator
 foraging to simulate the pollen load received by individual flowers of
 different near-neighbour plants (NNBR) over the course of a flowering
 season. Based on the simulated pollen loads received by different
 near-neighbour plants (NNBR), we quantified correlated paternity and
 near-neighbour mating expected to result from each combination of
 parameters of pollinator foraging. We used pattern-oriented simulation
 modeling to infer the specific combination of parameters of pollinator
 foraging that best fit the observed estimates of correlated paternity and
 near-neighbour mating derived from the parentage and sibship inference
 analysis. To quantify the impact of variation in pollinator foraging
 tactics on plant mating systems more broadly, we performed a sensitivity
 analysis that included a full-factorial design based on a broad range of
 values for each parameter of pollinator foraging.
description: COLONY2 V2.0.6.6 COANCESTRY
 V1.0.1.9  R 4.1.0