Changes in species composition and community structure during plant–pollinator community assembly

Abstract

The assembly of plant–pollinator communities has traditionally been explored from the perspective of species composition, often overlooking how interaction structure and the roles species play in their communities can change even when species composition remains constant. Here, we use 10 years of data to investigate the assembly of plant–pollinator networks in an intensively managed agricultural landscape. We compare the characteristics of assembling communities to those of mature and unrestored communities to explore if and how changes are reflected in species composition, network structure, and species' roles therein. Unexpectedly, we found that although species' composition of mature communities became increasingly dissimilar over time, the overall community structure and individual species' roles in assembling communities remained unchanged. Yet, the network structure of assembling communities gradually converged toward that of mature communities. Our results suggest that even when traditional diversity measures remain relatively invariant, network structure can uncover the dynamic nature of ecological communities, rendering interaction networks an important component of community assembly studies. Our findings advance the understanding of essential ecological processes underlying community assembly and provide insights into the mechanisms shaping species' roles within ecological networks.