DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2fqz61300
title: Data from: Differential effects of pollen nutritional quality on male and female reproductive success across plant species within a diverse co-flowering community

description: Pollen protein content has been demonstrated to be an essential
 nutritional component for pollinators, particularly bees, and thus
 important in mediating plant-pollinator interactions. However, it is
 unknown how investment in pollen protein impacts male and female
 reproductive success in plants within diverse co-flowering communities.
 Among-species variation in resources allocated to pollen nutrition could
 further be constrained by life-history strategies (e.g.,
 survival-reproduction trade-offs) or evolutionary history. Here, we
 surveyed pollen protein content for 29 species within a diverse
 co-flowering community and evaluated the effect of pollen protein on male
 and female reproductive success across plant species. We also tested the
 role of life history (annuals vs perennials) and phylogeny in mediating
 differences in resource allocation to pollen nutrition.  We found
 that pollen protein content influences components of male (bee visitor
 abundance and pollen dispersal) but not female (conspecific pollen
 deposition and pollen tube growth) reproductive success, suggesting this
 trait affects plants via male function with the potential for sexual
 conflicts driven by differential investment on this trait. We found no
 phylogenetic signal on pollen protein content. However, pollen protein
 content was higher in annual compared to perennial species suggesting
 survival versus reproduction trade-offs also contribute to variation in
 pollen protein at the community level.  Our study underscores the
 importance of understanding the ecological and evolutionary drivers of
 pollen protein content across plant species. Our results further suggest
 the existence of sexual conflicts and ecological trade-offs mediated by
 differential investment in pollen nutritional quality, with important
 implications for community assembly and the structure of plant-pollinator
 interactions.
description: This dataset was used to assess how pollen protein content
 impacts male and female reproductive success acros co-flowering plant
 species. This study was conducted at a serpentine seep meta-community in
 the McLaughlin Natural Reserve (38.8582º N, 122.4093º W) in Northern
 California, USA. We collected pollen protein content from 29 plant species
 (10 annual and 19 perennial species), using pollen/anthers of ~10
 individual plants per species. For each plant species, we obtained male
 and female reproductive success components. Male components were 1) bee
 visitor abundance, 2) pollen dispersal and 3) pollen disperser richness,
 all obtained through sampling flower-visiting bees (n = 621) in the
 community between 09h00 and 15h00 using entomological nets over 15 total
 days between May 9th and June 1st, 2021. We also collected bee pollen
 loads and quantified the number of pollen grains on the body of the bees
 and identified them, which were used to calculate mean pollen dispersal
 and pollen disperser richness for each plant. Female components were 1)
 mean number of conspecific pollen grains (CP) on stigmas and 2) the
 proportion of CP that formed pollen tubes. Both female components were
 obtained from 1279 styles collected from the studied plant species (55.6 ±
 37.1 styles per species). Additionally, we measured bee body size to
 understand the role of pollen protein content in attracting bees that
 require superior nutritional income, and estimated plant species abundance
 in the flowering season using 40 plots (1x2-meter each) to understand
 their influence on the considered male and female components.
description: # Differential effects of pollen nutritional quality on male and female
 reproductive success across plant species within a diverse co-flowering
 community
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2fqz61300](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2fqz61300) ## Description of the data and file structure The dataset contains 29 rows (plant species) and 13 columns (variables obtained at the species level, related to plant identification, acronyms, life strategy and abundance, pollen protein content and collection, female and male reproductive success components, number of styles per plant for female components, and body of size of bee visitors. #### File: data\_pollen\_protein\_CAserpentseep.csv ##### Variables * plant_sp: scientific species names * plant_code: species name acronyms * protein_ug_mg: Pollen protein content (ug/mg) * mean_CP: mean number of conspecific pollen (CP) deposited on stigmas * mean_PT: mean number of deposited CP that formed pollen tubes (PT). * n_styles: number of styles used to calculate mean CP and mean PT. * total_bee_abundance: total abundance of bee visitors on flowers. * mean_bsize_ITD: mean body size of bee visitors collected on flowers as measured as their intertegular distance (ITD, in milimeters). * mean_pollen_dispersal: mean number of pollen grains of a specific plant species found on the body of bees. * pollen_disperser_rich: number of bee species the pollen of a specific plant species was carried on. * plant_abund: abundance of plant species in the flowering season. * life_strategy: life strategy of the plants (i.e., if plants are annual or perennial). * protein_collection: source of pollen protein collection (anther = entire anthers, or pollen = directly from pollen grains). Note: Missing values (not available for particular species) are indicated as "NA" in the dataset.