Species and interactions are being lost at alarming rates and it is imperative to understand how communities assemble if we are to prevent their collapse and restore lost interactions. Using an nine-year dataset comprising nearly 20,000 pollinator visitation records, we explore the assembly of plant-pollinator communities at native plant restorations sites in an agricultural landscape.
Results/Conclusions
We find that species occupy highly dynamic network positions through time, causing the assembly process to be punctuated by major network reorganizations. We find that the partner re-wiring potential was positively related to species abundance and degree, but not to phenology. When we examined network position variability, we found that only abundance was significantly related. We suggest assembly instead occurs via an opportunistic attachment process driven by the most abundance species who constantly change partners and network roles. Our results contribute to our understanding of how communities assemble and how species interactions change through time while helping to inform efforts to re-assemble robust communities through restoration.