Critical transitions in plant-pollinator systems induced by positive inbreeding-reward-pollinator feedbacks

Summary In many regions of the world pollinator populations are rapidly declining, a trend that is expected to disrupt major ecosystem functions and services. These changes in pollinator abundance may be prone to critical transitions with abrupt shifts to a state strongly depleted both in pollinator and vegetation abundance. Here we develop a process-based model to investigate the effect of a positive pollinator-vegetation feedback, whereby an initial decline in plant density increases selfing thereby reducing floral resources and negatively affecting pollinators. We show that a decline in resource availability and an increase in disturbance intensity can induce an abrupt shift in vegetation and pollinator dynamics and potentially lead to the collapse of plant-pollinator systems. Thus, endogenous feedbacks can induce strong non-linearities in plant-pollinator dynamics, making them vulnerable to critical transitions to a state depleted of both plants and pollinators in response to resource deficiency and natural or anthropogenic disturbance.