Hiking up to the next plot…
Floral nectar supports a diverse and dynamic microbiome of yeast and bacteria that shape plant-pollinator interactions. These nectar microbes also provide a tractable system to test fundamental questions in community assembly and metacommunity ecology. Individual flowers can serve as replicated habitat islands connected via pollinator-mediated dispersal, forming natural metacommunity microcosms. Within local communities, nectar yeast and bacteria have strong interspecific interactions that lead to alternative community states. At larger scales, pollinators maintain structured and species-specific dispersal between flowers. Nectar also serves as a strong environmental filter, excluding many microbial species. In this project, I will characterize the interacting roles interspecific interactions, dispersal, and environmental filtering on the outcomes of community assembly in this nectar microbe metacommunity. The project will also add to the current dearth of information of the floral nectar microbiome across spatial and temporal scales and contribute to our understanding how shifting phenology may affect the assembly of nectar microbiomes, with potentially important consequences for the persistence plant-pollinator interactions.