The importance of temporal dynamics in species interactions for community structure and stability
Species interactions are dynamic in nature, and yet, all too often we evaluate interactions with data summarized over time. By evaluating summarized data, we likely miss key mechanisms governing species interactions and community stability. Here we explore fine grained (monthly) plant-hummingbird interaction data gathered across multiple sites and over several years to describe how interaction and network structure changes across time and evaluate mechanisms that influence this variation. We show, for instance, that different factors influence resource specialization across time (2 years of monthly sampling) and space (11 sites along an elevation gradient). In addition, we use theoretical models to show that temporal dynamics in hummingbird-plant assemblages increases community stability. This combination of long(ish) term empirical data collection and both statistical and theoretical models provides new insight into the importance of considering temporal dynamics when studying species interactions and community stability.
Chair: Mathieu Perret