DOI: 10.5061/dryad.hqbzkh1rp
title: Data from: Patterns and drivers of pollen co-transport network structure vary across pollinator functional groups

description: The patterns and drivers of pollen transport on insect bodies can have
 important consequences for plant reproductive success and floral
 evolution; however, they remain little studied. Recently, pollinator
 bodies have been further described as pollen competitive arenas, where
 pollen grains can compete for space, with implications for the evolution
 of pollen dispersal strategies and plant community assembly. However, the
 identity, strength, and diversity of pollen competitive interactions and
 how they vary across pollinator functional groups is not known. Evaluating
 patterns and drivers of the pollen co-transport landscape and how these
 vary across different pollinator groups is central to further our
 understanding of floral evolution and co-flowering community
 assembly. Here, we integrate information on the number and
 identity of pollen grains on individual insect pollen loads with network
 analyses to uncover novel pollen co-transport networks and how these vary
 across pollinator functional groups (bees and bee flies). We further
 evaluate differences in pollen load size, species composition, diversity
 and phylogenetic diversity among insect groups and how these relate to
 body size and gender. Pollen co-transport networks were diverse
 and highly modular in bees, with groups of pollen species interacting more
 often with each other on insect bodies. However, the number, identity and
 frequency of competitors that pollen grains encounter on insect bodies
 vary between some pollinator functional groups. Other aspects of pollen
 loads such as their size, richness and phylogenetical diversity were
 shaped by bee size or gender, with females carrying larger but less
 phylogenetically diverse pollen loads than males. Synthesis: Our results
 show that the number, identity and phylogenetic relatedness of pollen
 competitors changes as pollen grains travel on the body of different
 pollinators. As a result, pollinator groups impose vastly different
 interaction landscapes during pollen transport, with so far unknown
 consequences for plant reproductive success, floral evolution and
 community assembly.
description: # Dataset for "Patterns and Drivers of Pollen Co-transport Network
 Structure Vary Across Pollinator Functional Groups"
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hqbzkh1rp](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hqbzkh1rp) This dataset is part of the paper titled "Patterns and Drivers of Pollen Co-transport Network Structure Vary Across Pollinator Functional Groups", published by the Journal of Ecology. In this study, we used individual insects belonging to different functional pollinator groups surveyed on a serpentine seep plant community, North California (in 2021), to show how pollen species encounter each other as they travel on the body of the pollinators (i.e. during pollen transport), facing different competitive landscapes on their pathway to stigmas with implications for pollen-pollen interactions and community assembly. ## Description of the data and file structure The file contains data from 733 individual pollinators (rows) collected at two sites (BS and RHA) in the serpentine seeps. The functional group, morphospecies and sex assigned to each individual are given. Intertegular distance (mm) is provided for bees only. The number of pollen grains belonging to different plant species (species acronyms given as columns - 6 to 46, see list below for corresponding species names) found on each individual pollinator is included. The pollen was directly counted under a light microscope, using slides that represented individual pollinator pollen loads. *Categorical data:* * **Site** (BS, RHA): location of data collection in the serpentine seeps; * **Functional group** (bumble bee, honey bee, Megachilidae, other bee, bee fly): pollinator groups assigned to each individual pollinator. * **Morphospecies** (from morph_001 to morph_102): morphospecies id which individual pollinators belong to (see Table S1 in the supplementary material on the article webpage for species/genus names). * **Sex** (female, male): the gender of each individual pollinator. *Continuous data:* * **Intertegular distance**: the distance, in millimeters, between both tagulae of bees only. NAs were entered for bee flies. *Count data:*  * **Columns 6 to 46**: number of pollen grains belonging to each plant species found on insect pollen loads. ### **Plant species acronyms and their corresponding species names.** | **Plant Species Acronym** | **Plant Species Name** | | :------------------------ | :------------------------------- | | ACMI | *Achillea millefolium* | | AGHE | *Agoseris heterophylla* | | ALAM | *Allium amplectens* | | ALFI | *Allium fimbriatum* | | ANAR | *Anagallis arvensis* | | ANCO | *Antirrhinum cornutum* | | ANVE | *Antirrhinum vexillocalyculatum* | | BREL | *Brodiaea elegans* | | CAAM | *Calochortus amabilis* | | CAFO | *Castilleja foliolosa* | | CARU | *Castilleja rubicundula* | | CETR | *Centaurium trichanthum* | | CHPO | *Chlorogalum pomeridianum* | | CLCO | *Clarkia concinna* | | CLGR | *Clarkia gracilis* | | COSP | *Collinsia sparsiflora* | | DEUL | *Delphinium uliginosum* | | DIVO | *Dichelostemma volubile* | | ERLA | *Eriophyllum lanatum* | | ESCA | *Eschscholzia californica* | | GICA | *Gilia capitata* | | HEDI | *Hesperolinon disjunctum* | | LAMI | *Lagophylla minor* | | LIDI | *Linanthus dichotomus* | | LOHU | *Lotus humistratus* | | LUMI | *Lupinus microcarpus* | | MIGU | *Mimulus guttatus* | | MILA | *Mimulus layneae* | | MIDO | *Minuartia douglasii* | | MINU | *Mimulus nudatus* | | PLST | *Plagiobothrys stipitatus* | | RACA | *Ranunculus californicus* | | SCSI | *Scutellaria siphocampyloides* | | SIDI | *Sidalcea diploscypha* | | STBR | *Streptanthus breweri* | | TRLA | *Triteleia laxa* | | TRLX | *Trichostema laxum* | | TROB | *Trifolium obtusiflorum* | | TRPE | *Triteleia peduncularis* | | ZIVE | *Zigadenus venenosus* |