Temporal decay of similarity in bee-plant relationships throughout the day.

Abstract

Assessing plant-pollinator relationships often employs a snapshot approach to describe the complexity and dynamic involving species interactions. However, this framework overlooks the nuanced changes in species composition, their interactions, and the underlying drivers of such variations. This is particularly evident on less explored temporal scales, such as the dynamic decision-making processes occurring within hours throughout the day. To address these gaps, in this study, we evaluated the temporal and environmental factors shaping the change of species and interactions (beta diversity) between bees and plants throughout the day in a coastal environment in Mexico. In general, we found that the changes in species composition of bees and plants were mainly associated with species turnover throughout the day, while the principal component of changes in interaction composition was interaction rewiring (reassembling of pairwise bee-plant interactions). This was mainly because a few species (6 of 47 bee species, and 5 of 35 plant species) with many interactions remain permanent most of the day, leading to rewiring being the most important component of beta diversity interaction. While environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity did not significantly drive the compositional dissimilarity of species and interactions, we observed that nearby time intervals have a similar composition of species and interactions. In conclusion, our study emphasizes the importance of considering shorter temporal dynamics in understanding species interactions during the day. These insights deepen our understanding of the intricate dynamics shaping plant-pollinator interactions, providing valuable implications for future studies focused on conservation and management strategies.