Integrating pollinators’ movements into pollination models

Accurate prediction of pollination processes is a key challenge for sustainable food production and the conservation of natural ecosystems. For many plants, pollen dispersal is mediated by the foraging movements of nectarivore animals. While most current models of pollination ecology assume random p...

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Main Authors: Juliane Mailly, Louise Riotte-Lambert, Mathieu Lihoreau
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-02-01
Series:Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2025.1504480/full
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author Juliane Mailly
Louise Riotte-Lambert
Mathieu Lihoreau
author_facet Juliane Mailly
Louise Riotte-Lambert
Mathieu Lihoreau
author_sort Juliane Mailly
collection DOAJ
description Accurate prediction of pollination processes is a key challenge for sustainable food production and the conservation of natural ecosystems. For many plants, pollen dispersal is mediated by the foraging movements of nectarivore animals. While most current models of pollination ecology assume random pollen movements, studies in animal behaviour show how pollinating insects, birds and bats rely on sensory cues, learning and memory to visit flowers, thereby producing complex movement patterns. Building upon a brief review of pollination and movement models, we argue that we need to better consider pollinators’ cognition to improve predictions of animal-mediated pollination across all spatial scales, from individual flowers, to plants, habitat patches and landscapes. We propose a practical roadmap for the integration of behavioural models into pollination models and discuss how this synthesis can refine predictions regarding plant mating patterns and fitness. Such crosstalk between animal behaviour and plant ecology research will provide powerful mechanistic tools to predict and act on pollination services in the context of a looming crisis.
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spelling doaj-art-0026e6d17e8a4caba7e5c23f6833d5ac2025-08-20T03:12:39ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution2296-701X2025-02-011310.3389/fevo.2025.15044801504480Integrating pollinators’ movements into pollination modelsJuliane Mailly0Louise Riotte-Lambert1Mathieu Lihoreau2Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology (CBI); CNRS, Toulouse University, Toulouse, FranceCEFE, CNRS, Univ Montpellier, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, FranceResearch Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology (CBI); CNRS, Toulouse University, Toulouse, FranceAccurate prediction of pollination processes is a key challenge for sustainable food production and the conservation of natural ecosystems. For many plants, pollen dispersal is mediated by the foraging movements of nectarivore animals. While most current models of pollination ecology assume random pollen movements, studies in animal behaviour show how pollinating insects, birds and bats rely on sensory cues, learning and memory to visit flowers, thereby producing complex movement patterns. Building upon a brief review of pollination and movement models, we argue that we need to better consider pollinators’ cognition to improve predictions of animal-mediated pollination across all spatial scales, from individual flowers, to plants, habitat patches and landscapes. We propose a practical roadmap for the integration of behavioural models into pollination models and discuss how this synthesis can refine predictions regarding plant mating patterns and fitness. Such crosstalk between animal behaviour and plant ecology research will provide powerful mechanistic tools to predict and act on pollination services in the context of a looming crisis.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2025.1504480/fullagent-based modelspollination ecologyforaging patternspollen dispersalpollination models
spellingShingle Juliane Mailly
Louise Riotte-Lambert
Mathieu Lihoreau
Integrating pollinators’ movements into pollination models
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
agent-based models
pollination ecology
foraging patterns
pollen dispersal
pollination models
title Integrating pollinators’ movements into pollination models
title_full Integrating pollinators’ movements into pollination models
title_fullStr Integrating pollinators’ movements into pollination models
title_full_unstemmed Integrating pollinators’ movements into pollination models
title_short Integrating pollinators’ movements into pollination models
title_sort integrating pollinators movements into pollination models
topic agent-based models
pollination ecology
foraging patterns
pollen dispersal
pollination models
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2025.1504480/full
work_keys_str_mv AT julianemailly integratingpollinatorsmovementsintopollinationmodels
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AT mathieulihoreau integratingpollinatorsmovementsintopollinationmodels