Plant-pollinator assemblages: from individual niches to complex webs of interactions
Mutualistic relationships between plants and their pollinators can be seen as consumer-resource systems where individuals use different subsets of all available resources. From a network perspective that describes interactions between plant species and pollinator species, each of these species enfolds a new network at a lower hierarchical level of interacting individuals. The configuration of these individual-based networks is shaped by the variation in resource use among individuals. By downscaling ecological networks from species to individuals, we can unveil how inter-individual variation in resource use influences community assembly. My PhD project focuses on understanding how individual interaction patterns can scale up to affect the structure and dynamics of plant-pollinator communities. To tackle this main goal, we use highly resolved empirical data on plant-pollinator interactions collected in Mediterranean shrublands of Doñana National Park.