Data from: Experimental manipulation of floral scent bouquets restructures flower-visitor interactions in the field

1. A common structural feature of natural communities is the non-random distribution of pairwise interactions between organisms of different trophic levels. For plant–animal interactions, it is predicted that both stochastic processes and functional plant traits that facilitate or prevent interactions are responsible for these patterns. 2. However, unbiased manipulative field experiments that rigorously test the effects of individual traits on community structure are lacking. We address this gap by manipulating floral scent bouquets in the field. 3. Manipulation of floral scent bouquets led to quantitative as well as qualitative restructuring of flower–visitor networks, making them more generalized. Olfactometer trials confirmed both positive and negative responses to scent bouquets. 5. Our results clearly show that the distribution of insect visitors to the two abundant study plant species reflects the insects' species-specific preferences for floral scents, rather than for visual or morphological floral traits. 5. Thus, floral scents may be of major importance in partitioning flower–visitor interactions. Integrating experimental manipulations of plant traits with field observations of interaction patterns thus represents a promising approach for revealing the processes that structure species assemblages in natural communities.1. 自然群落的一个普遍结构特征，是不同营养级生物间的成对互作呈现非随机分布格局。就植物-动物互作而言，现有研究推测，随机过程与调控互作发生与否的功能植物性状（functional plant traits），均是促成这类格局形成的原因。 2. 然而，目前尚缺乏能够严格检验单一性状对群落结构影响的无偏操控性野外实验。本研究通过野外操控花气味谱系（floral scent bouquets）来填补这一研究空白。 3. 对花气味谱系的操控，使得花访客网络（flower-visitor networks）同时发生了定量与定性层面的重构，网络泛化程度显著提升。嗅觉仪（olfactometer）实验证实了昆虫对花气味谱系存在正负双向的行为响应。 5. 本研究结果清晰表明，两种优势研究植物的昆虫访客分布格局，反映的是昆虫对花气味的物种特异性偏好，而非对花视觉或形态性状的选择。 5. 由此可见，花气味在划分花访客互作的生态位中或发挥关键作用。综上，将植物性状的实验操控与互作格局的野外观测相结合，是揭示自然群落中物种组合构建过程的极具潜力的研究路径。