Data from: Plant responses to herbivory shift the contributions of different pollinator taxa to plant reproduction

Both mutualistic and antagonistic interactions affect plant survival and
reproduction. Plant responses to antagonists such as herbivores are
expected to negatively impact plant interactions with mutualistic
pollinators and plant fitness, but there is mixed support for this idea.
Bee taxa vary in their effectiveness as pollinators and their preferences
for floral traits, both of which may be affected by herbivory. Therefore,
the behavioral responses of specific pollinators to herbivory could
determine if and how herbivory exerts reproductive costs for plants. We
manipulated herbivory on Physalis philadelphica (tomatillo) using Lema
daturaphila beetles and simulated the plant’s physiological response to
herbivory using jasmonic acid (JA). We evaluated how herbivory and JA
treatments affected overall pollinator importance to plant reproduction by
different bee taxa (generalists Apis mellifera, Bombus, Augochlorini,
Lasioglossum and the specialist Colletes latitarsis). We calculated
pollinator importance by combining per-visit effectiveness (fruit weight
and percent fruit set) with bee abundance. Relative to the control,
herbivory reduced the overall pollinator importance of C. latitarsis bees
but no other taxa. Herbivory affected fruit weight following visits by
Augochlorini but had no overall effect on Augochlorini pollinator
importance, demonstrating that the pollinator importance metric describes
a distinct net effect of herbivory on pollination services. Nectar
foraging was positively associated with fruit set for all taxa. Herbivory
treatment affected foraging only for C. latitarsis, which had higher rates
of nectar foraging on herbivore-treated compared with control plants.
Treatment had inconsistent effects on taxon-specific visit duration, with
JA increasing Lasioglossum visit duration in one of two study years. Our
results suggest that variation in pollinator community composition could
alter the strength and direction of herbivore effects on pollination,
possibly explaining the inconsistent support for hypothesized
herbivore-driven pollination deficits. Therefore, the identity of
interaction partners may determine whether the expected tradeoffs between
managing mutualists and antagonists occur.