The phrase "alien pollinators" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used in contexts discussing non-native species that assist in the pollination of plants.
Example: "The introduction of alien pollinators has significantly altered the local ecosystem, affecting native plant reproduction."
Alternatives: "non-native pollinators" or "exotic pollinators".
The co-invasion by alien plants and alien pollinators has been described for alien honeybee and bumblebee species pollinating invasive plants (Traveset and Richardson 2014).
Mostly based on previous information, we make the following predictions: The integration of an alien plant into a pollination network is mediated by the most generalist (native or alien) pollinators [1], [3], [7], [13] and Opuntia interacts most frequently with generalist insects (super-generalists sensu [1]).
However, the exploration of this aspect of invasion biology is relatively young (for alien plants [1], [7], [8] and for alien pollinators [3]).
Alien pollinators interacted with fewer plants, were less selective in their choice (i.e. tended to visit the most abundant species) and were less important to the plant community (i.e. showed lower species strength) than endemic and native pollinators.
In fact, if pollination networks vary naturally in space and time, it is likely that opportunities for alien pollinators and plants to 'infiltrate' those networks will also vary in space and time.
There are many examples of invasional meltdowns involving alien plants and alien pollinators (Simberloff and Von Holle 1999 and references therein), seed dispersers (Bourgeois et al. 2005), mycorrhizal fungi (Dickie et al. 2010) and rhizobia (Rodríguez-Echeverría 2010).
Moreover, our findings also support the argument that endemic super-generalists, such as the bumblebee B. canariensis, play an important role as integrators of aliens into pollinator networks [1].
By contrast, average Lm was lower in invaded sites, suggesting that the alien is attracting pollinators away from natives, although this was not consistent between localities within each island (Table 3).
Likewise, species strength was consistently lower for alien than endemic pollinators, indicating that the former are less important to plants.
Studies of the interspecific relationships between alien and native pollinator species can help forecast the success of alien species as well as assess the extent of disturbance to native plant pollinator interactions.
In other words, the alien appeared to usurp pollinators to natives (at least in Menorca where it behaves as a generalist).
