Data and code from: Incorporating pollinator movement into connectivity models predicts pollen-mediated gene flow and highlights the importance of regenerating forests in tropical landscapes

Pollen-mediated gene flow is crucial for ecological and evolutionary
processes, and understanding its disruption by anthropogenic disturbances
is essential for conservation. In this study, we developed landscape
connectivity metrics that incorporated hummingbird movement behaviour to
assess how structural (amount and configuration) and functional
(species-specific behavioural response) landscape connectivity influences
pollen-mediated gene flow in a tropical plant species. We adapted the
incidence function model (IFM) to develop a set of functional landscape
connectivity metrics that integrated pollinator movement behaviour. We
evaluated whether these metrics outperform structural landscape
connectivity metrics for explaining contemporary pollen-mediated gene
flow. The performance of landscape connectivity metrics as predictors of
contemporary pollen-mediated gene flow is scale dependent. At the focal
patch scale, pollen-mediated gene flow was better predicted by structural
connectivity metrics, specifically the area of contiguous mature forest.
At the local landscape scale, pollen-mediated gene flow was better
predicted by functional connectivity metrics that accounted for
hummingbird movement, including gap-crossing probabilities. We found that
including regenerating forests and narrow forest elements better explained
pollen-mediated gene flow than a focus solely on mature forest. By
integrating hummingbird movement behaviour, we offer a more realistic and
nuanced understanding of how landscapes influence pollen-mediated gene
flow. We underscore the importance of accounting for pollinator movement
behaviour in conservation strategies that aim to preserve pollen-mediated
gene flow, and demonstrate that forest regeneration in critical for
maintaining functional landscape connectivity in tropical fragmented
landscapes.