Yannick Klomberg

Naturalis Biodiversity Center | NCB · Department of Botany

Background: Understanding the patterns of biodiversity distribution and what influences them is a fundamental pre-requisite for effective conservation and sustainable utilisation of biodiversity. Such knowledge is increasingly urgent as biodiversity responds to the ongoing effects of global climate change. Nowhere is this more acute than in species...

Apart from floral morphology and colours perceived by the human eye, ultraviolet reflectance (UV) acts as an important visual advertisement of numerous flowering plant species for pollinators. However, the effect of UV signalling on attracting pollinators of particular plant species is still insufficiently studied, especially in the Afrotropics. Th...

Butterflies and moths are conspicuous flower visitors but their role in plant-pollinator interactions has rarely been quantified, especially in tropical rainforests. Moreover, we have virtually no knowledge of environmental factors affecting the role of lepidopterans in pollination networks. We videorecorded flower-visiting butterflies and hawkmoth...

The pollination syndrome hypothesis predicts that plants pollinated by the same pollinator group bear convergent combinations of specific floral functional traits. Nevertheless, some studies have shown that these combinations predict pollinators with relatively low accuracy. This discrepancy may be caused by changes in the importance of specific fl...

Many tropical plants are pollinated by birds and several bird phylogenetical lineages have specialised to a nectar diet. The long-assumed, intimate ecological and evolutionary relationship between ornithophilous plants and phenotypically specialised nectarivorous birds has nevertheless been questioned in recent decades, where such plant–pollinator...

• Nectar robbing and thieving can substantially affect the reproduction of animal pollinated plants. Although the intensity of nectar exploitation remains unexplored at the community level, it probably varies along environmental gradients. • We video-recorded flower visits to animal-pollinated plants in Afrotropical rainforests along a complete el...

Despite a growing number of studies, the role of pollinators as a selection agent for nectar traits remains unclear. Moreover, the lack of data from some biogeographic regions prohibits us from determining their general importance and global patterns. We analyzed nectar carbohydrate traits and determined the main pollinators of 66 plant species in...

Although the Old World sunbirds are generally considered to be an ecological analogue of the New World hummingbirds, it is commonly believed that in contrast to hummingbirds, sunbirds perch while feeding. Nevertheless, recent studies have shown that Old World nectarivores hover while feeding more frequently than previously thought, and some Old Wor...

1. Butterflies and moths are well-visible flower visitors. Nevertheless, almost no quantification of their role in plant-pollinator interactions exists at a community level, especially from tropical rainforests. Moreover, we have virtually no knowledge on environmental and other factors affecting lepidopteran flower visits. 2. We focused on the ro...

The pollination syndrome hypothesis predicts that plants pollinated by the same pollinator group bear convergent combinations of specific floral traits. Nevertheless, some studies have shown relatively low predictive power for these floral trait combinations. This discrepancy may be caused by changes in the importance of specific floral traits for...

The deficiency of pollen grains for ovule fertilization can be the main factor limiting plant reproduction and fitness. Because of the ongoing global changes, such as biodiversity loss and landscape fragmentation, a better knowledge of the prevalence and predictability of pollen limitation is challenging within current ecological research. In our s...

Apart from floral morphology and colours perceived by the human eye, ultraviolet (UV) reflectance acts as an important visual advertisement of numerous flowering plant species for pollinators. However, the effect of UV signalling on attracting pollinators of particular plant species is still insufficiently studied, especially in the Afrotropics. Th...

The tropical vegetation of Africa is characterized by high levels of species diversity but is undergoing important shifts in response to ongoing climate change and increasing anthropogenic pressures. Although our knowledge of plant species distribution patterns in the African tropics has been improving over the years, it remains limited. Here we pr...

The tropical vegetation of Africa is characterized by high levels of species diversity but is undergoing important shifts in response to ongoing climate change and increasing anthropogenic pressures. Although our knowledge of plant species distribution patterns in the African tropics has been improving over the years, it remains limited. Here we pr...

Amazonian Dark Earths (ADE) are the result of human modification of the Amazonian landscape since pre-Columbian times. ADE are characterized by increased soil fertility compared to natural soils. In the Amazonian forest, soil fertility influences understory herb and fern species composition. However, little research has been done to evaluate the ef...