Data from: Does pollen limitation limit plant ranges? Evidence and implications

Sexual reproduction often declines towards range edges, reducing fitness,
dispersal, and adaptive potential at range edges. For plants, sexual
reproduction is frequently limited by inadequate pollination. While case
studies show that pollen limitation can limit plant distributions, the
extent to which pollination commonly declines toward plant range edges is
unknown. Here, we leverage global databases of pollen-supplementation
experiments and plant occurrence data to test whether pollen limitation
increases toward plant range edges, using a phylogenetically controlled
meta-analysis. While there was significant pollen limitation across
studies, we found little evidence that pollen limitation increases toward
plant range edges. Pollen limitation was not stronger toward the tropics,
nor at species’ equatorward vs poleward range limits. Meta-analysis
results are consistent with results from targeted experiments, in which
pollen limitation increased significantly toward only 14% of 14 plant
range edges, suggesting that pollination contributes to range limits less
often than do other interactions. Together, these results suggest
pollination is one of the rich variety of potential ecological factors
that can contribute to range limits, rather than a generally important
constraint on plant distributions.