Although species and their interactions in unison represent biodiversity and all the ecological and evolutionary processes associated with life, biotic interactions have, contrary to species, rarely been integrated into the concepts of spatial β-diversity. Here, we examine β-diversity of ecological networks by using pollination networks sampled across the Canary Islands. We show that adjacent and distant communities are more and less similar, respectively, in their composition of plants, pollinators and interactions than expected from random distributions. We further show that replacement of species is the major driver of interaction turnover and that this contribution increases with distance. Finally, we quantify that species-specific partner compositions (here called partner fidelity) deviate from random partner use, but vary as a result of ecological and geographical variables. In particular, breakdown of partner fidelity was facilitated by increasing geographical distance, changing abundances and changing linkage levels, but was not related to the geographical distribution of the species. This highlights the importance of space when comparing communities of interacting species and may stimulate a rethinking of the spatial interpretation of interaction networks. Moreover, geographical interaction dynamics and its causes are important in our efforts to anticipate effects of large-scale changes, such as anthropogenic disturbances.
Site1_WesternSahara1
Pollination network from Western Sahara (Site 1). Pollination networks are arranged with pollinators in the rows and plant species in the columns. Values in the matrix represents total number of observed visits between plants and pollinators.
Site2_WesternSahara2
Pollination matrix from Western Sahara (Site 2). Pollination networks are arranged with pollinators in the rows and plant species in the columns. Values in the matrix represents total number of observed visits between plants and pollinators.
Site3_Fuerteventura1
Pollination matrix from Fuerteventura (Site 3). Pollination networks are arranged with pollinators in the rows and plant species in the columns. Values in the matrix represents total number of observed visits between plants and pollinators.
Site4_Fuerteventura2
Pollination matrix from Fuerteventura (Site 4). Pollination networks are arranged with pollinators in the rows and plant species in the columns. Values in the matrix represents total number of observed visits between plants and pollinators.
Site5_GranCanaria1
Pollination matrix from Gran Canaria (Site 5). Pollination networks are arranged with pollinators in the rows and plant species in the columns. Values in the matrix represents total number of observed visits between plants and pollinators.
Site6_GranCanaria2
Pollination matrix from Gran Canaria (Site 6). Pollination networks are arranged with pollinators in the rows and plant species in the columns. Values in the matrix represents total number of observed visits between plants and pollinators.
Site7_TenerifeSouth1
Pollination matrix from Tenerife South (Site 7). Pollination networks are arranged with pollinators in the rows and plant species in the columns. Values in the matrix represents total number of observed visits between plants and pollinators.
Site8_TenerifeSouth2
Pollination matrix from Tenerife South (Site 8). Pollination networks are arranged with pollinators in the rows and plant species in the columns. Values in the matrix represents total number of observed visits between plants and pollinators.
Site9_TenerifeTeno1
Pollination matrix from Tenerife Teno (Site 9). Pollination networks are arranged with pollinators in the rows and plant species in the columns. Values in the matrix represents total number of observed visits between plants and pollinators.
Site10_TenerifeTeno2
Pollination matrix from Tenerife Teno (Site 10). Pollination networks are arranged with pollinators in the rows and plant species in the columns. Values in the matrix represents total number of observed visits between plants and pollinators.
Site11_Gomera1
Pollination matrix from La Gomera (Site 11). Pollination networks are arranged with pollinators in the rows and plant species in the columns. Values in the matrix represents total number of observed visits between plants and pollinators.
Site12_Gomera2
Pollination matrix from La Gomera (Site 12). Pollination networks are arranged with pollinators in the rows and plant species in the columns. Values in the matrix represents total number of observed visits between plants and pollinators.
Site13_Hierro1
Pollination matrix from El Hierro (Site 12). Pollination networks are arranged with pollinators in the rows and plant species in the columns. Values in the matrix represents total number of observed visits between plants and pollinators.
Site14_Hierro2
Pollination matrix from El Hierro (Site 12). Pollination networks are arranged with pollinators in the rows and plant species in the columns. Values in the matrix represents total number of observed visits between plants and pollinators.
Distance_between_sites_Dryad
Pairwise geographical distance between all 14 sites. Measured in meters.