Introducing alien species into plant-pollinator networks: What determines invasion success and impacts on native species?

Plant-pollinator networks sustain terrestrial biodiversity and human food security. Global change including species invasions threaten these networks. I investigate how plant-pollinator networks respond to species introductions using a consumer-resource model with adaptive foraging. I found that introduced animals with high foraging efficiency are the most successful invaders regardless network structure. However, network structures exhibiting more even distributions of pollination interactions across plant species better buffered impacts caused by animal invaders. Additionally, plant species producing more floral rewards were more successful in invading the networks while plant species more efficiently using animals as pollen vectors were more damaging to native plants.