Plant-pollinator interaction linkage rules are altered by agricultural intensification

Abstract

Determining linkage rules that govern the formation of species interactions is a critical goal of ecologists, especially considering that biodiversity, species interactions, and the ecosystem processes they maintain are changing at rapid rate worldwide. Species traits and abundance play a role in determining plant-pollinator interactions, but we illustrate here that linkage rules of plant-pollinator interactions change with disturbance context, switching from predominantly trait-based linkage rules in undisturbed, natural habitats, to abundance-based linkage rules in intensive agricultural habitats. The transition from trait-based to abundance-based linkage rules corresponds with a decline in floral trait diversity and an increase in opportunistic interaction behavior as agricultural intensification increases. These findings suggest that agricultural intensification is changing the very rules determining the realization of interactions and the formation of communities, making it challenging to use the structure of undisturbed systems to predict interactions within disturbed communities.