Spatial Variation in Plant-Pollinator Interactions

In the first chapter of my dissertation, I examined biotic and abiotic drivers of rewiring between plant-pollinator communities. One of my inspirations for conducting this project was my interest in interaction variation across spatial gradients. Prior studies have shown that rewiring increases with increasing distance between sites. I was curious what biotic and abiotic variables could underlie these spatial patterns.

Using a structural equation modeling framework, I found that temperature variation and plant community composition directly drove rewiring among 18 sites surrounding the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. Interestingly, with these proximal drivers of plant-pollinator interaction rewiring included in my statistical models, geographic distance did not directly drive rewiring on its own; rather, it indirectly influenced rewiring via these two direct drivers.

Next up for this project: I will be integrating pollen load data collected from the insect specimens in this project to see how pollen load trends and visitation trends vary across this gradient. I am particularly excited to be able to examine both individual-level and community-level foraging trends using these pollen loads.