Environment affects specialisation of plants and pollinators

Abstract

What determines whether or not a species is a generalist or a specialist? Evidence that the environment can influence species interactions is rapidly accumulating. However, a systematic link between environment and the number of partners a species interacts with has been elusive so far. Presumably, because environmental gradients appear to have contrasting effects on species depending on the environmental variable. Here, we test for a relationship between the stresses imposed by the environment, instead of environmental gradients directly, and species specialisation using a global dataset of plant-pollinator interactions. We found that the environment can play a significant effect on specialisation, even when accounting for community composition, likely by interacting with species traits and evolutionary history. Species that have a large number of interactions are more likely to focus on a smaller number of, presumably higher-quality, interactions under stressful environmental conditions. Contrastingly, the specialists present in multiple locations are more likely to broaden their niche, presumably engaging in opportunistic interactions to cope with increased environmental stress. Indeed, many apparent specialists effectively behave as facultative generalists. Overall, many of the species we analysed are not inherently generalist or specialist. Instead, species level of specialisation should be considered on a relative scale depending on where they are found and the environmental conditions at that location.