Geographic biases and gaps in the sampling of plant-pollinator networks

Abstract

Plant–pollinator interactions are essential for maintaining biodiversity and support-ing food production, yet inferences drawn from network syntheses may be shapedby where interaction data are generated and which datasets are most reused. Here,we quantify the global distribution of published plant–pollinator networks, assesshow publication rates vary across continents after accounting for socioeconomic, geo-graphic, and ecological predictors, and evaluate whether network reuse is driven pri-marily by time since publication and/or by continent-specific reuse trajectories. Wesystematically screened 3390 studies and assembled 721 plant–pollinator networkspublished between 1923 and 2024. Although networks were available from 58 coun-tries, nearly half originated from just six – Brazil, the US, Spain, Germany, the UK,and Argentina – highlighting strong concentration in data generation. Across coun-tries, publication rates increased with national research investment, country area, andbee species richness. After accounting for these predictors, publication rates in SouthAmerica, Africa, and Oceania were comparable to those in North America, whereasEurope remained underrepresented relative to most other continents, and Asia showedpersistently low representation. Network reuse increased with time since publicationbut varied among continents: South American networks exhibited higher reuse afterroughly a decade since publication than networks from North America, Europe, Asia,and Oceania (and marginally more than Africa), while reuse accumulated more rap-idly through time for networks from Europe, Africa, and Asia than for networks fromNorth America. Together, these results show that plant–pollinator network knowledgeis shaped by coupled biases in both data sampling and reuse, underscoring the need fortargeted sampling, improved data mobilization and discoverability, and more equitablecollaborations to broaden the geographic basis of global network synthesis.