Data from: Navigating a changing world: On the significance of rewiring for mutualistic interactions, caveats, and future directions

Rewiring, the ability of species to establish or reorganize interactions,
is a natural ecological process occurring due to spatiotemporal variation
in partner availability, regardless of anthropogenic disturbances. In
mutualisms like frugivory, rewiring has dual implications: for plants, it
affects seed dispersal and community composition; for animals, it
determines access to nutritional resources. Here, we (1) review current
knowledge on rewiring in mutualistic interactions; (2) identify important
caveats and research gaps; and (3) propose a framework of mechanisms that
facilitate or limit rewiring in vertebrate-fruiting plant interactions,
that should be considered in future research. We argue that, while
rewiring is often viewed as a flexible response driven by species
abundances, co-occurrence and morphological matching, this perspective
oversimplifies the complexity of ecological and evolutionary processes
shaping the reorganization of mutualisms. For instance, intraspecific
variation in traits, fruit chemistry, competition dynamics, the role of
rare or infrequent interactions, forbidden links, and alternative modes of
seed dispersal all have the potential to determine the likelihood and
ecological consequences of rewiring, and should be considered in future
studies. Additionally, we highlight how methodological issues, such as
biased or incomplete sampling, can difficult our understanding of rewiring
potential. By integrating these overlooked elements, we propose a more
comprehensive approach for predicting how mutualistic networks will
respond to current and future environmental change. This deeper
understanding is essential for designing effective conservation strategies
with the aims at understanding the resilience and functionality of
ecosystems.