Plant-pollinator interaction linkage rules are altered by agricultural intensification

Abstract

3Determining linkage rules that govern the formation of species interactions is a critical goal of 4 ecologists, especially considering that biodiversity, species interactions, and the ecosystem processes they 5 maintain are changing at rapid rate worldwide. Species traits and abundance play a role in determining 6 plant-pollinator interactions, but we illustrate here that linkage rules of plant-pollinator interactions 7 change with disturbance context, switching from predominantly trait-based linkage rules in undisturbed, 8 natural habitats, to abundance-based linkage rules in intensive agricultural habitats. The transition from 9 trait-based to abundance-based linkage rules corresponds with a decline in floral trait diversity and an 10 increase in opportunistic interaction behavior as agricultural intensification increases. These findings 11 suggest that agricultural intensification is changing the very rules determining the realization of 12 interactions and the formation of communities, making it challenging to use the structure of undisturbed 13 systems to predict interactions within disturbed communities. 14 15

Nectar provision attracts hummingbirds and connects interaction networks across habitats

“…In these modified habitats, pollinators face opportunities and challenges to establish interactions with novel resources/partners. Habitat modification may, in this context, affect the local-scale importance of ecological determinants of interaction networks (Morrison et al 2020). However, how habitat modification and resource provision, in combination, affect how plant-pollinator interactions are organized is not well understood.…”