Urban rendezvous: Spatiotemporal overlap is more important than abundance and trait matching for urban plant–pollinator interactions

Abstract Understanding how species interactions, such as those between plants and their pollinators, are structured in human‐transformed habitats is a key challenge in modern ecology. However, the relative importance of the drivers structuring interactions may vary depending on the ecological and environmental context. We investigated the influence of three ecological drivers of plant–pollinator interactions in urban landscapes of a tropical metropolis: spatiotemporal overlap (species phenology within and across sites), interaction neutrality (species abundance) and trait matching (compatibility in morphological traits). We collected floral interaction data from different pollinator groups, including bees, butterflies, flies and wasps in distinct urban landscapes. We found that spatiotemporal overlap and neutrality were the primary drivers of interactions, while trait matching had minimal effect, likely reflecting the predominance of generalist species in urban environments and reducing morphological constraints on species interactions. The observed negative correlation between neutrality and trait matching indicates that as the importance of species abundances increases, the influence of trait matching decreases. When examined by pollinator groups, spatiotemporal overlap also emerged as the most important driver for bees and butterflies. However, we detected a seasonal variation where spatiotemporal overlap was relatively more important during the rainy season, while neutrality played a greater role in the dry season. This contrast may arise owed to differences in floral resource availability, which are scarcer during the dry season and when some mass flowering plants attract many of the available pollinators. Synthesis and applications . Our study shows that the generalized structure of urban plant–pollinator interactions is mirrored in the mechanisms that shape them, as interactions are governed primarily by less restrictive drivers such as abundance and spatiotemporal overlap rather than by trait matching. To enhance the diversity of interactions, urban landscapes with a high diversity of plant species that bloom year‐round and are attractive to different pollinator groups are needed. By doing so, tropical cities can ensure pollinators across seasons and foster interactions of different pollinator groups.