Heat-mediated pollination and the sustainable management of an endangered Andean palm – HOTPALM

Nearly 90% of flowering plants depend on pollination making this process a vital ecosystem service for humanity. The sustainable maintenance of pollination services depends primarily on the conservation of wild pollinator populations and the resilience of plant-pollinator interactions to ongoing rapid environmental changes, such as global climate and land use changes. However, management and conservation policies in response to these changes are hindered by the lack of integrative studies on pollination services from plant-insect interactions to livelihood economics, especially in developing countries. We propose to address this issue in a transdisciplinary project focusing on the ivory palm (Phytelephas aequatorialis), a palm endemic to the Ecuadorian Andes that is of economic interest to rural communities and whose pollination success is based on floral thermogenesis. Our hypothesis is that a change in the thermal environment of the palm, triggered by deforestation and climate change, would disrupt plant-pollinator interactions based on floral heat, with cascading effects on palm productivity and the economic benefits of smallholders who depend on it. We will determine how these two anthropogenic stresses could affect plant-pollinator interactions, pollination efficiency, palm genetic diversity and ultimately the benefits to local communities, in order to provide them with optimal and sustainable management strategies for the conservation of ivory palms and pollinators. The project is organized in five work packages (WPs) with across different levels of organization - from the flower to the socio-ecosystem - and combines a range of observational, experimental and modelling approaches. WP1 will detail the mechanisms involved in palm-pollinator interactions, in particular the effect of floral temperatures on the emission of volatile compounds and the role of these floral traits in attracting pollinators and ultimately on palm seed production. WP2 will study how floral traits and pollinators respond to changes in thermal regime, by comparing palm-insect interactions in different environments at the landscape scale. These first two WPs will produce a predictive spatial model of palm productivity based on pollinators. This model will then be combined with socio-economic data obtained in two subsequent WPs. In WP3, an agent-based bio-economic model will be built from surveys and data collected from local communities on their knowledge of palm harvesting and pollination and the surrounding landscape, and socio-economic data on their choices in palm management. This model will help identify, from a collective perspective, sustainable strategies for palm management and pollinator conservation. WP4 will develop role-playing games (RPGs) revolving around the results of the agent-based bio-economic model within a multi-stakeholder platform (farmers, palm product companies, forest conservation NGOs, park rangers) to define locally viable and acceptable ivory palm management strategies at the landscape level. These strategies will then be simulated in the agent-based bio-economic model. Our communication strategy for the project will be deployed in a WP5, and will include, among others, the adaptation of the RPG as an educational tool to support learning objectives in natural resource management for private and governmental institutions in Ecuador.