Spatio-temporal variation in plant-pollinator interactions

Despite the dynamic nature of communities, most research typically treated interaction networks as static entities, and only a few analysed the spatial and the temporal scale simultaneously. Here, we used spatial and temporal multilayer networks to explore the persistence of species and interactions in space and time, as well as the variation of species importance according to biotic factors. We further investigated, for the first time, the spatio-temporal variation in multilayer network structure. Species exhibited substantial turnover across time mainly due to fluctuations in phenology. In contrast, interaction turnover was more pronounced across habitats, which seems to be a common strategy of pollinators to adjust interactions spatially to different ecological scenarios. Overall, species were comparatively more important to the cohesiveness of spatial than of temporal networks. The importance of plant species fluctuated temporally due mainly to changes in flower density, whereas that of pollinators fluctuated in space and time according to the abundance. Module composition was highly unstable in time, and species were highly capable of changing partners and module affiliation across both scales. These findings emphasise the importance of avoiding not only habitat loss but also habitat fragmentation to maintain highly connected habitats in terms of species interactions.