Abstract
Since the theoretical paper of Levin and Anderson1, it has been widely recognised that animal pollinators represent resources for which plants can compete. Competition for pollination might take several forms and act as a powerful selective force in establishing or maintaining sequential flowering among sympatric species2. Sequential flowering in Arctic3, temperate4–9 and neotropical10–13 plant assemblages has been interpreted as an evolutionary result of competition for pollination. This interpretation may prove correct in many cases, although strong evidence for competition is available for few systems9,14. Heinrich and Raven15 (see also Baker16 and Baker et al.17) pointed out that sympatric plant species may act as mutualistic partners at the same time that their sequential flowering is maintained by competition. We develop this hypothesis here explicitly and present evidence that effective mutualism occurs between two species which also compete for pollination.
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Waser, N., Real, L. Effective mutualism between sequentially flowering plant species. Nature 281, 670–672 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/281670a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/281670a0
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