The global relationship between flowering plant and pollinator diversity holds true across scales, latitude, and human influence

The global relationship between flowering plant and pollinator diversity holds true across scales, latitude, and human influence | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article The global relationship between flowering plant and pollinator diversity holds true across scales, latitude, and human influence Jeff Ollerton, Maria Castellanos, Carlos Nunes, Andre Rech, Sinzinando Albuquerque, and 33 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7120809/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Animal pollination underpins plant reproduction and biodiversity across most terrestrial ecosystems1,2,3,4, yet the global relationships between plant and pollinator diversity remain poorly understood. Here we demonstrate, for the first time at a global scale, a consistent positive relationship between local flowering plant richness and pollinator species richness, observed across a wide range of environments and geographic gradients. This relationship is strongly shaped by human influence: relatively undisturbed or semi-natural communities support higher pollinator diversity per plant species than anthropogenic habitats. However, contrary to expectation, restored and even some novel ecosystems can approach the pollinator richness of more pristine systems. These findings support recent studies challenging long-held assumptions that degraded habitats are inevitably poor in biodiversity, and highlight the potential for ecological restoration to recover functional pollination networks. We also refine global estimates of the prevalence of animal pollination among flowering plants, finding that while the overall proportion remains high, it varies predictably with geography and habitat context. Together, these results underscore the central role of diverse plant communities in sustaining pollinator diversity and offer hope for the recovery of degraded habitats in maintaining this vital ecological function. Biological sciences/Ecology/Biodiversity Biological sciences/Ecology/Biogeography Biological sciences/Ecology/Restoration ecology Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7120809","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":598247571,"identity":"93d1a57b-7416-44c9-bf5b-2a0b932b3dc7","order_by":0,"name":"Jeff Ollerton","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABOUlEQVRIie3RMUvDQBQH8DsO4nLa9STl/ApXDlJFwa+SEnBqEBEkg8OBkCzROYLYr6BL6WgJtMuhs9ihJeAcHFzawZdERLkKjg73hwQueT/uvTuEbGz+YbDC8xKh3XazjKoX/VHhm4R0MoQYlBFYanicmohfCVR+Izj+AyHJBVYoYrTlPo2Lk9sZ7w4ux2/PoxXvIrIocXxkNJbmQDSj21cBkdfDV9mebAVuqIXcU45kOO4bJDueznHMqNDEcTeHeS9zqHDDWPTuHpAHrUYGGRRwaEAOa3JTE7lsyMb7WpKRhghaEVUT73MXWu1iNpYGWPkwC9NESjrJJXP63n6opRQ5PWX+ozF+J4Hxy+iAt1K8KOh5zhnR8iUccS6myX1ZngUGUeuOHm4YNXdr/kI75qcvYmNjY2PT5AMMHmJZa3IRQgAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0887-8235","institution":"University of Northampton","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jeff","middleName":"","lastName":"Ollerton","suffix":""},{"id":598247572,"identity":"85d9586b-853e-4516-bf2a-53553098301c","order_by":1,"name":"Maria Castellanos","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Sussex","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Maria","middleName":"","lastName":"Castellanos","suffix":""},{"id":598247573,"identity":"4c5f5a93-6c09-4832-a85e-19544b62d2e2","order_by":2,"name":"Carlos Nunes","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7534-0697","institution":"University of Campinas","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Carlos","middleName":"","lastName":"Nunes","suffix":""},{"id":598247574,"identity":"6cac9162-ca3a-4bae-80a0-14b1b39c8a79","order_by":3,"name":"Andre Rech","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Andre","middleName":"","lastName":"Rech","suffix":""},{"id":598247575,"identity":"dcc5ccda-3e41-486b-989a-8e0003591a84","order_by":4,"name":"Sinzinando Albuquerque","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sinzinando","middleName":"","lastName":"Albuquerque","suffix":""},{"id":598247576,"identity":"0978f2d3-1dd8-4e1e-8b1d-0c7cc31297ea","order_by":5,"name":"W Armbruster","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Portsmouth","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"W","middleName":"","lastName":"Armbruster","suffix":""},{"id":598247577,"identity":"d23efdcb-c3f5-4959-bb0d-d51131c3b793","order_by":6,"name":"Paolo Biella","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Milano","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Paolo","middleName":"","lastName":"Biella","suffix":""},{"id":598247578,"identity":"181198f7-93fb-4540-bc56-ba4146a0d70b","order_by":7,"name":"Luísa G. 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Here we demonstrate, for the first time at a global scale, a consistent positive relationship between local flowering plant richness and pollinator species richness, observed across a wide range of environments and geographic gradients. This relationship is strongly shaped by human influence: relatively undisturbed or semi-natural communities support higher pollinator diversity per plant species than anthropogenic habitats. However, contrary to expectation, restored and even some novel ecosystems can approach the pollinator richness of more pristine systems. These findings support recent studies challenging long-held assumptions that degraded habitats are inevitably poor in biodiversity, and highlight the potential for ecological restoration to recover functional pollination networks. 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