Data from: Pollinator assemblage composition predicts trait divergence in a pollination-generalized plant

The causal role of pollinators in driving the divergence of plant traits
is a fundamental tenet of angiosperm evolution, providing hallmark
examples of natural selection. However, it remains unclear how geographic
variation in pollinator assemblages relates to the divergence of
pollination traits in pollination-generalized plants. We characterized
pollinator assemblages that interacted with Viscaria vulgaris in southern
Sweden, and evaluated, through statistical dimension reduction, whether
pollination traits were associated with an inferred main axis of
geographic variation in pollinator assemblages. We documented a
functionally broad range of pollinators that visited V. vulgaris. Although
the most frequent pollinator functional groups were present in most
populations, their relative contribution to flower visitation varied
across the study area, establishing a geographic mosaic of local
pollinator assemblages. We demonstrate that the geographic variation of
local pollinator assemblages can predict the divergence of pollination
traits in V. vulgaris. The findings of this geographic comparative study
are consistent with the hypothesis that geographic variation in pollinator
assemblages drives the divergence of pollination traits in
pollination-generalized plants. Thus, generalized plant-pollinator
interactions do not preclude the divergence of pollination traits, which
may maximize the collective contribution of local pollinator assemblages
rather than that of a principal pollinator.