Exploring within season temporal variation in plant-pollinator interactions in sub-alpine meadows using weekly pollination interaction networks

Abstract

It is known that sub-alpine meadows experience significant community level changes throughout the spring/summer season due to phenology. In this study we sought to interpret the within- season community-level changes in the sub-alpine meadows of Gothic, CO, USA through the construction of weekly plant-pollinator interaction networks. Creating a plant-pollinator interaction networks for every week from 24 May to 2 August 2013, allowed us to quantify and visualize the changes occurring in this system across the season. We found a large amount of variation between weeks as shown in the varying structure of the networks. Connectance was highest at the beginning and end of the season, showing a direct relationship with floral richness. This is most likely a result of biotic factors, specifically, the phenology of participating species, although to a lesser degree, abiotic factors may influence variation in weekly network structure. These results advance our understanding of community level trends in Gothic’s sub-alpine meadows.

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