Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Biodiversity and Conservation

Publication Date

6-1-2024

Abstract

Animal pollinators underpin the functioning and persistence of ecosystems globally. However, the vital role of pollination is being progressively eroded by the worldwide decline of pollinator species caused by human-induced environmental degradation, resulting in rising costs to biodiversity, agriculture, and economy. Most studies quantifying pollinator diversity and declines have focused on insects, whereas vertebrate pollinators remain comparatively neglected. Here, we present the first comprehensive study quantifying the macroecological patterns of species richness and extinction risk of bird and mammal pollinators in India, a region of extremely high biodiversity and increasing anthropogenic pressure. Our results reveal that hotspots of mammal pollinator diversity are restricted to the south of the Western Ghats, whereas bird pollinator diversity hotspots are scattered throughout the country. Analyses of hotspots of threatened species (based on the IUCN Red List) show that only mammal pollinators are currently classified as threatened in India, whereas multiple hotspots of population declines were observed for birds, and primarily in the Southwest for mammal pollinators. Our analyses failed to identify a role for species traits as drivers of these patterns, whereas most pollinators appear to be threatened by agriculture, logging and hunting for food, and medicinal purposes. Pollinator endangerment has widescale ecological and economic implications such as reduced food production, plant extinction, loss of functional and genetic diversity, and economic damage. We suggest protection of vertebrate pollinators should be emphasised in active conservation agendas in India.

ISSN

0960-3115

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Volume

33

Issue

6-7

First Page

2109

Last Page

2130

Disciplines

Life Sciences

Keywords

Birds, Distributions, Hotspots, Mammals, Pollinators, Threats

Scopus ID

85191299714

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Hybrid: This publication is openly available in a subscription-based journal/series

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