I was reading "The impact of an alien plant on a native plant-pollinator network: an experimental approach" and it talks about flower removal plots what does that mean?
Visitation and pollen transport networks were constructed to compare replicated I. glandulifera invaded and I. glandulifera removal plots.
Quite simply, it's a flowerbed where some of the flowers were cut off the plants. It's explained later in the paper:
As pollinators feed on floral resources, only the flowers of I. glandulifera were removed from the experimental plots (vs. the entire plant); in this way the effects of direct competition for other resources (e.g. water, light and nutrients) between I. glandulifera and other plant species were kept constant between control and experimental plots. The experimental plot in each pair was subjected to an I. glandulifera flower removal treatment, which was applied every 10–14 days throughout the experiment, this being done by hand using scissors.
In contrast:
The control plots, henceforth referred as invaded plots, were left untreated.
