Trait matching affects the probability of nectar robbing in plant-pollinator networks

Mutualistic interactions support many ecological functions, including pollination. Interactions are, however, vulnerable to cheaters, species that benefit from interactions without providing anything in return. Nectar robbing, where the nectar is depleted but the flower is not pollinated, is a well-known example of cheating and is often observed in pollination networks. Further, pollinating birds often switch between legitimate (i.e., mutualistic) and nectar-robbing flower visits. In this study, we quantify how widespread nectar robbing is at high elevations in the northern Andes using interactions recorded with time-lapse camera traps. Additionally, we assess the importance of two trait-based mechanisms in explaining legitimate versus nectar robbing flower visits by birds: trait complementarity, measured as the continuous difference between bird bill and flower tube lengths, and trait barrier, which is a binary assessment of whether a species pair is physically able to interact based o..., , # Trait matching affects the probability of nectar robbing in plant-pollinator networks

Dryad DOI: [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rn8pk0pqx](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rn8pk0pqx)

**## DOWNLOADING THE DATA**

To allow reproducibility, the data and the R script are provided.

**## R SCRIPT**

All the data preparation and analysis is contained in a single script \"script.R\".

**## DATA**

**Interactions_data_Ecuador.txt** contains data on birds recorded by time-lapse cameras from eighteen sites along an elevation gradient in Pichincha, Ecuador (from which only three sites are considered in the present study). Each row corresponds to an independent interaction between a bird and a plant species. This data set is linked to Cameras_data_Ecuador.txt through the column “waypoint”.

**Variables:**

**waypoint** Unique camera ID.

**site** Site (transect) name.

**date** Date of the picture (YYYY-MM-DD).

**time** Time when the picture was recorded (HH:MM:SS).

**bird_species** Latin name of ..., , **Changes after Nov 3, 2025:** I added the R script file, which I apparently forgot to submit.