Evolution from mixed to fixed handedness in mirror-image flowers: insights from adaptive dynamics.

Mirror-image flowers (enantiostyly) involve a form of sexual asymmetry in which a flower's style is deflected either to the left or right side, with a pollinating anther orientated in the opposite direction. This curious floral polymorphism, which was known but not studied by Charles Darwin, occurs in at least 11 unrelated angiosperm families and represents a striking example of adaptive convergence in form and function associated with cross-pollination by insects. In several lineages, dimorphic enantiostyly (one stylar orientation per plant, both forms occurring within populations) has evolved from monomorphic enantiostyly, in which all plants can produce both style orientations. We use a modelling approach to investigate the emergence of dimorphic enantiostyly from monomorphic enantiostyly under gradual evolution. We show using adaptive dynamics that depending on the balance between inbreeding depression following geitonogamy, pollination efficiency and plant density, dimorphism can evolve from an ancestral monomorphic population. In general, the newly emergent dimorphic population is stable against invasion of a monomorphic mutant. However, our model predicts that under certain ecological conditions, e.g., a decline of pollinators, dimorphic enantiostyly may revert to a monomorphic state. We demonstrate using population genetics simulations that the observed evolutionary transitions are possible assuming a plausible genetic architecture.

High Resource Overlap and a Consistently Generalised Pattern of Interactions in a Bat-Flower Network in a Seasonally Dry Landscape.

Pollination is an ecosystem process that is crucial to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem function. Bats are important pollinators in the tropics and are an integral part of complex plant-pollinator interaction networks. However, network analysis-based approaches are still scarce at the plant species and bat community levels. We used metabarcoding to identify plant taxa present in pollen from fur and faecal samples collected across 1 year from three nectar-feeding bat roosts in central Mexico. We calculated the frequency of occurrence of plant taxa and assembled a zoocentric network of bat-plant interactions. We constructed a year-long network, encompassing the entire period of sampling, two seasonal networks comprising the wet and dry seasons, and six individual networks from sampling at two-month intervals across the year. Four species of nectar-feeding bats interacted with 36 plant species from 16 families. We found highly generalised interaction patterns across networks corresponding with opportunistic feeding behaviour by bats, with little seasonal variation in network structure. There was high resource overlap between bat species, and bats visited a diverse range of plant species even during periods with a high abundance of particular resources in the landscape. The diverse diet of nectar-feeding bats emphasises the importance of floristically rich natural habitats in the landscape to provide reliable foraging resources year-round in a seasonally variable system. While a generalised network structure is thought to increase robustness, further research is necessary to understand how fluctuations in pollinator abundance and diversity in the face of land use and climate change may impact bat-flower networks and the consequences to plant communities.

Heatwaves exacerbate pollen limitation through reductions in pollen production and pollen vigour.

Increasingly frequent heat waves threaten the reproduction of flowering plants; compromising the future persistence, adaptive capacity, and dispersal of wild plant populations, and also the yield of fruit-bearing crop plants. Heat damages the development of sensitive floral organs and gametes, which inhibits pollen germination, pollen tube growth, and fertilization. However, the role of heat has not been integrated into the framework of pollen quantity and quality limitation and how heat influences the success of cross and self-pollination. We exposed developing flowers to either controlled temperature (25 °C:20 °C) or extreme heat (35 °C:20 °C) over 72 h. We then hand-pollinated them with either crossed or self-derived pollen from the same temperature treatment to determine the direct and interactive effects of simulated heatwaves on pollen tube growth and resulting seed set. We also collected anthers from virgin flowers to measure heat impacts on pollen production. Under cooler control temperatures pollen tube survival of self-derived pollen was approximately 27% lower than that of crossed pollen. Pollen tube survival in heat-treated cross-pollinated and heat-treated self-pollinated flowers were 71% and 77% lower compared to flowers cross-pollinated at control temperatures. These differences in pollen tube survival rate between heat-treated cross-pollinated and heat-treated self-pollinated flowers were insignificant. Furthermore, extreme heat reduced seed set by 87%, regardless of pollen origin, and also reduced pollen production during flower development by approximately 20%. Our results suggest flowers that develop during heatwaves are likely to experience exacerbated pollen quantity and quality limitation driven by changes in pollen production and pollen vigour. Heatwave-induced pollen limitation will likely reduce crop yields in agricultural systems, and depress mating and reproduction in wild plant species, the latter of which may hinder the adaptive capacity of plants to a rapidly changing world.

Impacts of ramet density and herbivory on floral volatile emissions and seed production in Solidago altissima.

PREMISE: Plants produce an array of floral olfactory and visual cues to attract pollinators, including volatile organic compounds (VOC), which mediate plant-pollinator interactions and may be influenced by herbivory and neighboring plants. Consequently, these factors may affect plant fitness by disrupting pollination. However, most evidence comes from controlled experiments, limiting our understanding of how VOCs function in natural populations. This study investigated how herbivory and conspecific ramet density influence floral VOC profile, pollination, and seed production in a naturally occurring population of Solidago altissima. METHODS: We recorded leaf herbivory and ramet density surrounding one focal ramet in 1-m2 plots. We collected VOCs from the floral headspace and measured ovary fertilization as a proxy for pollination success and the number of seeds produced by the focal ramet. RESULTS: Our findings revealed interactive effects between ramet density and herbivory on floral VOC emission, richness, and diversity. Specifically, at lower ramet densities, herbivory did not affect floral volatile emissions. However, in highly dense stands, herbivory suppressed floral volatile emissions. Despite these changes, floral volatiles did not affect pollination and the number of seeds in S. altissima. CONCLUSIONS: Our field-based findings underscore the importance of understanding the complex responses of floral VOCs to environmental stressors and their contributions to plant reproduction within natural communities. Our results suggest that while herbivory and ramet density influence floral scent, these changes do not affect reproduction in our study. Ultimately, generalist-pollinated plants like S. altissima might not rely heavily on chemical signaling during pollination.

Behavioural Thermoregulation of Flowers via Petal Movement.

Widely documented in animals, behavioural thermoregulation mitigates negative impacts of climate change. Plants experience especially strong thermal variability but evidence for plant behavioural thermoregulation is limited. Along a montane elevation gradient, Argentina anserina flowers warm more in alpine populations than at lower elevation. We linked floral temperature with phenotypes to identify warming mechanisms and documented petal movement and pollinator visitation using time-lapse cameras. High elevation flowers were more cupped, focused light deeper within flowers and were more responsive to air temperature than low; cupping when cold and flattening when warm. At high elevation, a 20° increase in petal angle resulted in a 0.46°C increase in warming. Warming increased pollinator visitation, especially under cooler high elevation temperatures. A plasticity study revealed constitutive elevational differences in petal cupping and stronger temperature-induced floral plasticity in high elevation populations. Thus, plant populations have evolved different behavioural responses to temperature driving differences in thermoregulatory capacity.

Landscape heterogeneity correlates with bee and pollen diversity while size and specialization degree explain species-specific responses of wild bees to the environment.

Access to adequate pollen sources in agricultural landscapes is critical for the nutrition and development of bees. The type and quantity of pollen available to bees and may be determined by local plant diversity, land-use intensity and landscape structure but different bee species likely respond differently to these parameters. Identifying community and specific responses is therefore imperative to understand pollinator population dynamics in agricultural landscapes. We sampled bees in 36 plots along a land-use gradient at 4 sites in Belgium and Germany over two years. We collected 1821 bees from 100 bee species and constructed a pollen foraging network with 36 common wild bee species based on pollen metabarcoding. We investigated differences in community responses and species-specific responses to environmental variables. Landscape heterogeneity positively correlated with bee species richness, diversity and functional richness, and significantly explained bee community composition per plot. Bee collected pollen diversity correlated with bee species diversity. Furthermore, landscape heterogeneity positively correlated with bee collected pollen diversity when pooling abundant bee species, while it did not correlate with pollen diversity of the most abundant generalists. Land-use intensity and local plant diversity had no significant effect on bee diversity. Larger bees showed negative responses to increasing land-use intensity and bees with more specialized diets showed positive correlations with landscape heterogeneity. Our study goes beyond mere floral diversity and provides new insight into the responses of wild bee communities to landscape structure and regional pollen availability, as well as the interplay between bee abundance and pollen foraging traits. Our results highlight the importance of determining species-specific nutritional needs and considering landscape level structure in pollinator conservation programs.

Quantification and mapping of regulating ecosystem services in canola agroecosystems (case study: Gorgan County, Iran).

Regulating services are the advantages that humans receive from regulating ecosystem processes. These services include, but are not limited to pollination, climate regulation, water purification, carbon sequestration, and erosion control. Quantifying and mapping ecosystem services in agroecosystems is one of the main effective actions to increase pay attention to these services and adopt suitable approaches to direct sustainability. The purpose of the study was quantification, and mapping of regulating ecosystem services in canola agroecosystems of Gorgan County, north of Iran. For this purpose, some regulating services such as carbon sequestration, climate regulation, soil microbial respiration, soil aggregate stability, and pollination by insects were evaluated based on the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services framework. The information and data required for each of these services were collected through field measurements, laboratory experiments, and field surveys. After quantifying, the surveyed services in canola agroecosystems were presented on geospatial maps generated by ArcGIS software, version 10.3. Results showed that agroecosystems in the west and north of the studied region provided the more regulating services. Also, the results of the pollination showed that pollinating insects belonged to four orders and 13 families. The majority of the pollinators were Hymenoptera (44.74%), especially honey bees (Apis mellifera L.), Diptera (5.26%), Butterflies (Lepidoptera; 25%), and the beetles (Coleoptera; 25%), and Anthophora sp. and Andrena sp. were the second and the third most abundant pollinating species after honey bees. Generally, the canola agroecosystems close to the rivers and the natural ecosystems provided more services than other regions.

Flowers meet Newton: testing the role of gravitational pull in resupination of orchid flowers.

Resupination refers to the developmental orientation changes of flowers through ≈180º, leaving them effectively upside-down. It is a widespread trait present in 14 angiosperm families, including the Orchidaceae, where it is a gravitropic phenomenon actively controlled by auxins. Here, we demonstrate that the passive gravitational pull on flower parts can have an additional influence on resupination. We studied a lady's slipper orchid in which some flowers naturally fail to resupinate. We conducted a manipulative experiment removing floral parts and showed that both the probability of complete resupination and the degree of flower vertical movement (from 0º - 180º) are related to the mass of floral organs. During flower development, the tip of the ovary slightly curves actively (14.75º) due to gravitropism. This promotes a lever arm effect so that the gravitational pull acting on flower mass creates a torque that bends the ovary, orienting the flower into a resupinate position that is accessible to pollinators. The role of the mass of floral organs in resupination provides new insights into flower development and its role in pollination mechanisms.

The Hole Truth: Why Do Bumble Bees Rob Flowers More Than Once?

Primary nectar-robbers feed through holes they make in flowers, often bypassing the plant's reproductive organs in the process. In many robbed plants, multiple holes are made in a single flower. Why a flower should be robbed repeatedly is difficult to understand: a hole signals that a nectar forager has already fed, which would seem likely to predict low rewards. We tested three explanations for this pattern in Corydalis caseana (Fumariaceae), a bumble bee pollinated and robbed plant: (1) multiple holes appear only after all flowers have been robbed once; (2) individual foragers make multiple holes during single visits; and (3) it is more profitable for bees to rob older flowers, even if they have already been robbed. We tested these hypotheses from 2014 to 2016 in a Colorado, USA population using data on robbing rates over time, floral longevity, nectar accumulation in visited and unvisited flowers, and the accumulation of robbing holes across the life of flowers. Multiple holes were already appearing when two-thirds of flowers still lacked a single hole, allowing us to reject the first hypothesis. The second hypothesis cannot offer a full explanation for multiple robbing holes because 35% of additional holes appeared in flowers one or more days after the first hole was made. Repeated sampling of bagged and exposed inflorescences revealed that flowers filled at a constant rate and refilled completely after being drained. Consequently, young flowers are of consistently low value to foragers compared to older flowers even if they had previously been robbed, consistent with the third hypothesis. While further studies are needed, these results offer a simple explanation for the paradoxical clustering of nectar-robbing damage in this and possibly other plant species.

Animal pollination shapes fruits market features, seeds functional traits and modulates their chemistry.

In this study, we experimentally addressed the impact of different pollination treatments on the morphological, reproductive and chemical traits of fruits and seeds of two crop species, the wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca L.) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.). Multiple flowers from each plant were exposed to different pollination treatments: (1) self pollination, (2) hand cross pollination and (3) open pollination. Both crops were positively affected by open pollination in terms of morpho-chemical parameters concerning the marketability (e.g., 35% decrease in sugar/acid ratio in open pollinated strawberries compared to the autogamous ones) and the seed germination rate as a proxy of reproduction efficiency (e.g., the almost complete absence of seed abortion in the open pollination treatment). Remarkably, the pollination treatment also strongly influenced the phytochemical composition. Open-pollinated strawberries exhibited a higher relative concentration of compounds endowed with nutraceutical properties such as anthocyanins, ellagic acid derivatives and flavonoids. At the same time, cowpea seeds displayed higher concentrations of anti-nutrients in the self pollination treatments, such as saponins, compared to the open and hand cross pollinated seeds. This study suggests the presence of a link between the pollination mechanism, market quality, plant reproduction and chemical properties of fruits and seeds, supporting the intricate interplay between pollinators, plants and human nutrition, highlighting the crucial importance of animal pollination in the ecological and dietary contexts.

Animal pollination contributes to more than half of citrus production.

Animal pollination is crucial for the reproduction and economic viability of a wide range of crops. Despite the existing data, the extent to which citrus crops depend on pollinators to guarantee fruit production still needs to be determined. Here, we described the composition of potential pollinators in citrus (Citrus spp.) from the main growing areas of Argentina; moreover, we combined Bayesian models and empirical simulations to assess the contribution of animal pollination on fruit set and yield ha-1 in different species and cultivars of lemons, grapefruits, mandarins, and oranges. Honeybee (A. mellifera L.) was the most commonly observed potential pollinator, followed by a diverse group of insects, mainly native bees. Regardless of citrus species and cultivars, the probability of flowers setting fruit in pollinated flowers was 2.4 times higher than unpollinated flowers. Furthermore, our simulations showed that about 60% of the citrus yield ha-1 can be attributable to animal pollination across all species and cultivars. Therefore, it is crucial to maintain environments that support pollinator diversity and increase consumer and to producer awareness and demand in order to ensure the significant benefits of animal pollination in citrus production.

Spatial Modeling of Insect Pollination Services in Fragmented Landscapes.

Pollination mapping and modeling have opened new avenues for comprehending the intricate interactions between pollinators, their habitats, and the plants they pollinate. While the Lonsdorf model has been extensively employed in pollination mapping within previous studies, its conceptualization of bee movement in agricultural landscapes presents notable limitations. Consequently, a gap exists in exploring the effects of forest fragmentation on pollination once these constraints are addressed. In this study, our objective is to model pollination dynamics in fragmented forest landscapes using a modified version of the Lonsdorf model, which operates as a distance-based model. Initially, we generated several simulated agricultural landscapes, incorporating forested and agricultural habitats with varying forest proportions ranging from 10% to 50%, along with a range of fragmentation degrees from low to high. Subsequently, employing the modified Lonsdorf model, we evaluated the nesting suitability and consequent pollination supply capacity across these diverse scenarios. We found that as the degree of forest fragmentation increases, resulting in smaller and more isolated patches with less aggregation, the pollination services within landscapes tend to become enhanced. In conclusion, our research suggests that landscapes exhibiting fragmented forest patch patterns generally display greater nesting suitability due to increased floral resources in their vicinity. These findings highlight the importance of employing varied models for pollination mapping, as modifications to the Lonsdorf model yield distinct outcomes compared to studies using the original version.

Why do flowers wilt?

Resources salvaged when flowers wilt on a perennial plant could promote reproduction by, in preference order, the same flowers (Hypothesis 1), adjacent flowers on the same plant (Hypothesis 2), or during the next flowering season by the same plant (Hypothesis 3). We tested the above hypotheses for Blandfordia grandiflora, a perennial species, where some plants included flowers that were allowed to wilt, while equivalent flowers on other plants were prevented from wilting. The abilities of these plants to produce seed were determined by liberally pollinating all flowers. To test Hypotheses 1 and 2, seed set per flower and per plant were compared between plants with and without wilting flowers. To specifically test Hypothesis 3, reproduction was prevented in all flowers. For each experiment, flowering was monitored in the same plants during the next flowering season, thus also enabling Hypothesis 3 to be tested. The results were consistent with Hypothesis 3, but not with Hypotheses 1 and 2. Hence, we verified, for the first time, that plants may benefit from salvaging resources from wilting flowers and re-using these resources for subsequent reproduction. However, contrary to expectations, plants re-used these resources to promote reproduction during subsequent flowering, and not during current flowering by either the same flowers or other flowers on the same plant. The plants must have transferred resources from wilting flowers to underground corms and roots, which provided resources necessary for subsequent flowering. This is likely part of a general plant strategy to salvage resources invested in reproduction during one flowering season and reuse these resources during subsequent flowering.

Pesticide exposure patterns in honey bees during migratory pollination.

Monitoring pesticide exposures in honey bees provides fundamental risk information that informs efforts to improve regulatory policy, pesticide use, and beekeeping management so pollinators are protected in realistic field conditions. We investigated pesticide exposures to bee colonies while colonies moved along commercial migratory routes in 2022 and 2023 to pollinate multiple pollinator-dependent, high-value U.S. specialty crops (e.g., almonds in California and apples and cherries in Washington). We found evident pesticide exposure patterns, including increasing exposures (both levels and number of pesticides) to fungicides during almond pollination, higher exposures to insecticides and persistent exposures to fungicides during springtime fruit pollination, and declining exposures in summer. Exposure risk assessment by risk quotient (RQ) model based on residues in bee bread indicates no concern of acute toxicity to adult honey bees during pollination, however, during colony inspections we found severe brood mortality in fields associated with high exposure to buprofezin, an insect growth regulator (IGR) thought to be safe for adult bees, which is permitted for use any time across the season. Our results suggest a need to improve compliance with insecticide label requirements during tree fruit pollination and a need for further research into the negative impacts of IGR on colony health especially on immature bees to inform potential policy changes.

Species morphology better predicts plant-hummingbird interactions across elevations than nectar traits.

Species traits greatly influence interactions between plants and pollinators where floral nectar is the primary energy source fostering this mutualism. However, very little is known about how nectar traits mediate interactions in pollination networks compared with morphological traits. Here, we evaluated the role of morphological and nectar traits in shaping plant-hummingbird interaction networks along an elevation gradient. For this, we assessed patterns in floral phenotypic traits and network properties of plant species across elevations in Costa Rica. We also analysed whether plant species with generalized flower traits are ecological generalists and how morphological trait matching versus nectar traits affect interactions. We found marked variation in floral phenotypic traits and flower abundance of hummingbird-visited plant species across 10 sites along the elevation gradient. We did not find evidence for a relationship between flower morphology and nectar traits or between morphological and ecological generalization of plant species. Plant-hummingbird interaction frequency increased when the lengths of hummingbird bill and flower corolla were similar, indicating morphological matching, whereas nectar traits were unrelated to interactions. While nectar may play a difficult-to-detect secondary role within plant-hummingbird networks, our results reinforce the idea that morphological matching is an important factor in structuring ecological communities.

Natural selection on floral volatiles and other traits can change with snowmelt timing and summer precipitation.

Climate change is disrupting floral traits that mediate mutualistic and antagonistic species interactions. Plastic responses of these traits to multiple shifting conditions may be adaptive, depending on natural selection in new environments. We manipulated snowmelt date over three seasons (3-11 d earlier) in factorial combination with growing-season precipitation (normal, halved, or doubled) to measure plastic responses of volatile emissions and other floral traits in Ipomopsis aggregata. We quantified how precipitation and early snowmelt affected selection on traits by seed predators and pollinators. Within years, floral emissions did not respond to precipitation treatments but shifted with snowmelt treatment depending on the year. Across 3 yr, emissions correlated with both precipitation and snowmelt date. These effects were driven by changes in soil moisture. Selection on several traits changed with earlier snowmelt or reduced precipitation, in some cases driven by predispersal seed predation. Floral trait plasticity was not generally adaptive. Floral volatile emissions shifted in the face of two effects of climate change, and the new environments modulated selection imposed by interacting species. The complexity of the responses underscores the need for more studies of how climate change will affect floral volatiles and other floral traits.

Are agricultural commodity production systems at risk from local biodiversity loss?

Compelling evidence for feedbacks between commodity crop production systems and local ecosystems has led to predictions that biodiversity loss could threaten food security. However, for this to happen agricultural production systems must both impact and depend on the same components of biodiversity. Here, we review the evidence for and against the simultaneous impacts and dependencies of eight important commodity crops on biodiversity. We evaluate the risk that pollination, pest control or biodiversity-mediated soil health maintenance services are at risk from local biodiversity loss. We find that for key species groups such as ants, bees and birds, the production of commodities including coffee, cocoa and soya bean is indeed likely to be at risk from local biodiversity loss. However, we also identify several combinations of commodity, ecosystem service and component of biodiversity that are unlikely to lead to reinforcing feedbacks and lose-lose outcomes for biodiversity and agriculture. Furthermore, there are significant gaps in the evidence both for and against a mutualism between biodiversity and agricultural commodity production, highlighting the need for more evaluation of the importance of specific biodiversity groups to agricultural systems globally.

Fungus gnat pollination in Arisaema urashima: the interplay of lethal traps and mutualistic nurseries.

While most flowering plants engage in mutualistic interactions with their pollinators, Arisaema species employ a unique, seemingly antagonistic strategy by imprisoning and causing the pollinators to perish within their spathes. Recent studies have revealed that Arisaema thunbergii primarily relies on a fungus gnat, Leia ishitanii, with some individuals possibly escaping female spathes after oviposition. We investigated interactions between A. urashima and its pollinating fungus gnats, given that A. urashima is closely related to A. thunbergii. Specifically, we tested whether decaying A. urashima serve as brood-sites for some pollinators and whether these pollinators can escape seemingly lethal floral traps. We retrieved A. urashima spathes together with adult insect corpses trapped within the spathes and incubated the spathes to see if conspecific insects emerged. In addition, under laboratory conditions, we observed the escape behaviour of Sciophila yokoyamai, whose next-generation adults most frequently emerge from the decaying spathes. Our findings indicate that S. yokoyamai almost always escapes from the female spathe after oviposition while using the inflorescence as a nursery. In contrast, other pollinators of A. urashima, including Mycetophila spp., remain trapped and perished within the spathes. This study demonstrates that A. urashima spathes can function both as lethal traps and mutualistic nurseries, with outcomes differing among pollinator species. Our results also suggest that the contribution of certain pollinators to Arisaema reproduction is underestimated or even neglected, given that information on their pollinator assemblages has been based on floral visitors trapped within the inflorescences.

Putting the puzzle together: the relationship between floral characters and pollinator morphology determines pollination mode in the fig-fig wasp mutualism.

The diversification of angiosperms has largely been attributed to adaptive radiation of their pollination and mating systems, which are relevant drivers of the macroevolution processes. The fig (Ficus, Moraceae) and fig wasp (Agaonidae, Hymenoptera) interaction is an example of obligate mutualism. Passive and active pollination modes have been associated with morphological traits in both partners. However, more information is required to assess the relationship between floral traits and pollination modes, particularly in Neotropical Ficus species. This study evaluates the morphological traits of figs and fig wasps regarding pollination modes in species belonging to Neotropical Ficus sections (three species each of Americanae and Pharmacosycea). Pollination mode was identified by floral morphology, anther/ovule ratio, and specialized structures fig wasps use for pollen transport (pollen pocket and coxal combs). Fig species in sect. Americanae are actively pollinated because pistillate flowers form a synstigma, present anther/ovule ratios <0.11, and their pollinator Pegoscapus fig wasps have pollen pockets and coxal combs. In contrast, species in sect. Pharmacosycea have free pistillate flowers, with anther/ovule ratios >0.27; they are pollinated by Tetrapus wasps, which lack specialized structures to carry pollen. Each species of Ficus was associated with a single morphospecies of fig wasp. The results support previous contributions that consider reciprocal morphological traits between fig species and their pollinating wasps as evidence of a close co-evolutionary history.

A simple method to map pollination ecosystem services potential in urban lawns.

Urban areas have detrimental impacts on the ecosystems. Nevertheless, they still supply many ecosystem services (ES), such as Pollination, in different urban green spaces (UGS). Lawns are among the most degraded UGS due to very high human impact. Still, flowers such as Dandelions (Taraxacum officinalis) live in these spaces. These flowers are considered a suitable habitat for pollinators. In this work, we develop a methodology to map Pollination ES potential in urban lawns using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. A detailed protocol was developed using high-resolution images, consisting of orthomosaic creation, flower vectorisation, field validation, and finally, Pollination ES potential mapping using Kernel and Point Density. This method can be applied to urban lawns and grasslands in Spring and Summer.•A novel method was developed to map pollination potential in lawns.•Dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) were mapped using UAV high-resolution images.•The method is helpful to identify areas with pollination potential in urban lawns.