María C. Rodríguez-Rodríguez

The honeybee is the primary managed species worldwide for both crop pollination and honey production. Owing to beekeeping activity, its high relative abundance potentially affects the structure and functioning of pollination networks in natural ecosystems. Given that evidences about beekeeping impacts are restricted to observational studies of spec...

Plant-animal interactions are pivotal for ecosystem functioning, and usually form complex networks involving multiple species of mutualists as well as antagonists. The costs and benefits of these interactions show a strong context-dependency directly related to individual variation in partner identity and differential strength. Yet understanding th...

The consequences of mutualistic plant-animal interactions on plant reproductive success depend on the animal’s effectiveness and the context in which the mutualism occurs. The present thesis is about the interplay between these two aspects in the mutualism of pollination. We try to meet the challenge with a particular group of pollinators, opportun...

The balance between mutualistic and antagonistic plant–animal interactions and their spatial variation results in a highly dynamic mosaic of reproductive success within plant populations. Yet, the ecological drivers of this small-scale heterogeneity of interaction patterns and their outcomes remain virtually unexplored. We analyzed spatial structur...

Cincuenta años después de su creación, ¿qué se investiga actualmente en la Estación Biológica de Doñana? Ahora hay técnicas de estudio muy avanzadas, el ámbito de actuación abarca el mundo entero y, por supuesto, se han incorporado nuevos científicos. Pero el interés por escudriñar la biodiversidad sigue vigente.

Each spring, the introduction of up to 3000 beehives is permitted in the Teide National Park (Tenerife, Canary Islands). This introduction implies that around 100 millions of Apis mellifera (Apidae) bees compete with the native fauna (insects, but also birds and lizards) for floral resources (nectar/pollen). Since A. mellifera is not considered an...

Ecologically isolated habitats (e.g., oceanic islands) favor the appearance of small assemblages of pollinators, generally characterized by highly contrasted life modes (e.g., birds, lizards), and opportunistic nectar-feeding behavior. Different life modes should promote a low functional equivalence among pollinators, while opportunistic nectar fee...

• Pollination is a critical phase for plant reproduction, but ecological and evolutionary outcomes by pollinators may be counteracted by floral herbivores. These interacting assemblages may also be altered (directly or indirectly) by introduced species, especially on oceanic islands. In this study, we analyzed the effects of opportunistic nectar-fe...

Insular floras, characterized by simple pollination networks, sometimes include novel mutualistic agents such as nonspecialist nectarivores. In this study we confirmed the effective pollination of Isoplexis canariensis by opportunistic nectar-feeding birds in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. This plant is among the ornithophilous species of the Can...