Editing Pollinator (section)

== Structure of plant-pollinator networks ==
{{main|Pollination syndrome|List of crop plants pollinated by bees}}

Wild pollinators often visit many plant species and plants are visited by many pollinator species. All these relations together form a network of interactions between plants and pollinators. Surprising similarities were found in the structure of networks consisting out of the interactions between plants and pollinators. This structure was found to be similar in very different ecosystems on different continents, consisting of entirely different species.<ref name="pmid12881488">{{cite journal | vauthors = Bascompte J, Jordano P, Melián CJ, Olesen JM | title = The nested assembly of plant-animal mutualistic networks | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 100 | issue = 16 | pages = 9383–7 | date = August 2003 | pmid = 12881488 | pmc = 170927 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1633576100 | bibcode = 2003PNAS..100.9383B | doi-access = free }}</ref>

The structure of plant-pollinator networks may have large consequences for the way in which pollinator communities respond to increasingly harsh conditions. Mathematical models, examining the consequences of this network structure for the stability of pollinator communities suggest that the specific way in which plant-pollinator networks are organized minimizes competition between pollinators<ref name="pmid19396144">{{cite journal | vauthors = Bastolla U, Fortuna MA, Pascual-García A, Ferrera A, Luque B, Bascompte J | title = The architecture of mutualistic networks minimizes competition and increases biodiversity | journal = Nature | volume = 458 | issue = 7241 | pages = 1018–20 | date = April 2009 | pmid = 19396144 | doi = 10.1038/nature07950 | bibcode = 2009Natur.458.1018B | s2cid = 4395634 }}</ref> and may even lead to strong indirect facilitation between pollinators when conditions are harsh.<ref name="Lever_et_al">{{cite journal | vauthors = Lever JJ, van Nes EH, Scheffer M, Bascompte J | title = The sudden collapse of pollinator communities | journal = Ecology Letters | volume = 17 | issue = 3 | pages = 350–9 | date = March 2014 | pmid = 24386999 | doi = 10.1111/ele.12236 | bibcode = 2014EcolL..17..350L | hdl = 10261/91808 | url = | hdl-access = free }}</ref> This allows pollinator species to survive together under harsh conditions. But it also means that pollinator species collapse simultaneously when conditions pass a critical point. This simultaneous collapse occurs, because pollinator species depend on each other when surviving under difficult conditions.<ref name=Lever_et_al />

Such a community-wide collapse, involving many pollinator species, can occur suddenly when increasingly harsh conditions pass a critical point and recovery from such a collapse might not be easy. The improvement in conditions needed for pollinators to recover, could be substantially larger than the improvement needed to return to conditions at which the pollinator community collapsed.<ref name=Lever_et_al />