Analysis of Pollinator Networks

Identifying specialist and generalist species is of great interest to conservation biologists, population ecologists, and population geneticists. Specialization can be quantified with or without abundant data; we contend and prove that using floral abundance data leads to better identification of specialists. This can be of importance when analyzing non-native species, such as the Hypericum perforatum and Apis mellifera in montane meadows within the Pacific Northwest. A. mellifera, a generalist, is competing with many other insect species like the Bombylius major for flowers, with potential to change meadow dynamics. H. perforatum is proliferating in meadows as well, and is becoming a major partner of Bombus species, and it is possible that Bombus may shift its distribution according to H. perforatum presence. All of these network dynamics can be modelled with occupancy models. Modelling these situations provides a way to visualize where exactly the interactions or pollinators are within meadow complexes. From comparison of different occupancy models, plant presence and date emerge as influential factors concerning plantpollinator interactions. There is too little data to directly apply these models to the meadows, but future years’ observations have the potential to rectify this problem.