Persistence of plant–pollinator interactions in time and space
Julian Resasco1,* Natacha P. Chacoff2, 3, Diego P. Vázquez 4, 5
1 Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, USA. OrcID JR: 0000-0003-1605-3038
2 Instituto de Ecología Regional, CONICET-Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina.
3 Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e IML, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina. OrcID NPC: 0000-0002-1115-6989
4 Argentine Institute for Dryland Research, CONICET, Mendoza, Argentina
5 Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, National University of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina. OrcID DPV: 0000-0002-3449-5748
Corresponding author: Julian Resasco, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, USA, 303-709-8961, jresasco@colorado.edu
Author contributions: J.R. collected and analysed the data and wrote the manuscript with input from D.P.V. and N.P.C.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data accessibility statement: We confirm that, should the manuscript be accepted, the data supporting the results will be archived in Dryad and the data DOI will be included at the end of the article.
Type of article: Letter
Words in abstract: 150
Words in the main text: 2,593
Number of references: 35
Number of figures: 2 (+4 in SI)
Keywords: ecological network, mutualistic network, nestedness, niche, phenology, pollination, specialization, stability
AbstractGeneralist species are important for maintaining network structure and function. Previous studies showed that interactions between generalists persist across sites and years. However, the mechanisms for persistence across spatiotemporal scales are not clear. To address this gap, we collected data on plant–pollinator interactions throughout the flowering period for five years across six plots in a subalpine meadow. We hypothesized that tolerance of environmental variation across time and space plays a key role in species’ generalization by regulating spatiotemporal overlap with partners. We found that interactions between species with broader temporal and spatial distributions tended to be more generalized such that interactions near the network core were more persistent across years and plots and within seasons. These results further understanding of networks by linking the role of environmental variation in time and space in organizing interactions, marrying niche concepts that emphasize species environmental constraints and their role in the community.