Study site and periods
We collected data on plants and their potential insect pollinators in Southern Pantanal, located in the Central region of Brazil. The Pantanal is the largest continuous floodplain in the world and spans 140.000 km2. Its location, surrounded by the main Brazilian vegetation domains, results in a biota with representatives of these neighbouring provinces. It is influenced by the Amazon in the north; by Chaco to the west; by Atlantic Forest in the southeast and by the Cerrado, which covers the plateaux surrounding the Pantanal, in its eastern portion (Alho, 2008). that characterize the Pantanal (Alho, 2008). This heterogenous landscape, as well as differences in flooding regimes, result in a variety of phytophysiognomies such as riparian forests, monodominant pioneer plant formations, ponds with aquatic plants and savannas (Nunes da Cunha & Junk, 2009; Pott et al., 2011).
The study area is characterized by a marked seasonality, presenting a warm and rainy season from October to March, and a relatively colder and dry period from April to September (Souza et al., 2018). It is characterized by the presence of a high and threatened biodiversity (Ramsar & MMA, 2010). Studied plots included three distinct and representative habitat types in the region: 1) “Paratudal” mono-dominant stands of flooded savannah dominated by Tabebuia aurea (Bignoniaceae); 2) “Canjiqueiral” mono-dominant stands of Byrsonima cydoniifolia (Malpighiaceae); and 3) Riparian forest (Nunes da Cunha & Junk, 2009) (Fig. 1). Despite the monodominance of distinct plant species in Canjiqueiral and Paratudal, other plant species occurring in the three studied habitat types show considerable similarity (Pott et al., 2011).
Plant-pollinator interactions data were sampled monthly for two years, from October 2014 to September 2016, nearby the Pantanal Field Station of the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (57º02’22.80” W; 19º34’52.24” S), in the Miranda sub region of Southern Pantanal (Alho, 2008). We selected 36 areas (12 for each habitat) and, in each of these areas, we established ten 10x10m plots, at least 50 meters apart, summing a total of 3600m2 and 750 hours of sampling (Fig. 1).