Plant-pollinator networks in deer-degraded forests

In Japan, a recent increase in the population density of sika deer has declined forest understory vegetation and has changed relationships between plants and pollinators. The goal of this study was to construct plant-pollinator networks in forests degraded by deer, and to understand indirect interactions between flowering plant species through pollinators. This study was conducted in a cool-temperate forest in the University of Tokyo Chichibu Forest, located in central Japan. In order to investigate the visiting history of pollinators to flowering plant species, the amplicon sequencing analysis of the ITS2 region (ITS-S2F/ ITS4R) of plants was performed on pollen attached to the sampled pollinators.