DOI: 10.5061/dryad.497nj
title: Data from: Dealing with mutualists and antagonists: specificity of plant-mediated interactions between herbivores and flower visitors, and consequences for plant fitness

description: 1. Plants need to deal with antagonists, such as herbivores, while
 maintaining interactions with mutualists, such as pollinators that help
 plants to maximize their reproductive output. Although many plant species
 have inducible defences to save metabolic costs of defence in the absence
 of herbivores, plant responses induced by herbivore attack can have
 ecological costs. For example, herbivore-induced responses can affect
 flower traits and alter interactions with flower visitors. Such
 plant-mediated interactions between herbivores and flower visitors can
 affect plant reproductive output. Current knowledge on the generality and
 specificity of plant-mediated herbivore-flower-visitor interactions and
 its consequences for plant fitness is limited. 2. In this study, we
 investigated whether a broad range of herbivores feeding on the annual
 plant Brassica nigra affect interactions with flower visitors, whether the
 direction of interactions is predicted by the feeding modes (chewing and
 sap-feeding) and sites (above- and belowground) of the herbivores, and
 whether it results in fitness consequences for the plant. 3. Our results
 show that attack of B. nigra by a range of different herbivores influenced
 plant interactions with mutualist pollinators and an antagonist florivore,
 the pollen beetle Meligethes aeneus. Pollinator community composition was
 affected by herbivory, whereas overall pollinator attraction was
 maintained. Pollinator community composition of uninfested plants differed
 from that of chewing and root herbivore-infested plants. Main responders
 in the pollinator communities to changes induced by herbivory were syrphid
 flies, bumblebees, and solitary bees. Although the preference of pollen
 beetle adults was not affected by herbivory, beetle larvae performed best
 on plants infested with the nematode Heterodera schachtii. The changes in
 pollinator community composition and syrphid fly visitation can explain
 the observed increase in seed set of root herbivore-infested plants. 4.
 Interactions of flowering B. nigra plants with mutualist and antagonist
 insects are well integrated and conflicting interactions do not reduce
 reproductive output. Our results suggest some degree of specificity in
 herbivore-flower-visitor interactions with consequences for plant fitness.
 Specificity of plant responses were determined at the species level as
 well as the herbivore functional group level , and differed depending on
 the flower visitor. Because plant reproduction was affected by indirect
 plant-mediated interactions, these can potentially result in selection on
 plant strategies to optimize growth, defence, and reproduction.
description: Raw data Rusman et al
 Dealing with mutualists and antagonists: Specificity of plant-mediated
 interactions between herbivores and flower visitors, and consequences for
 plant fitnessFile containing raw data
 of pollinators visitations, pollen beetle adult abundance, pollen beetle
 larvae numbers and weights, and plant seed set.Raw data Rusman et al Dealing
 with mutualists and antagonists.xlsx