Multivariate flower phenotype and proboscis length shape specialised pollination niches

Abstract Understanding how pollination niches are structured is essential to reveal the mechanisms that promote species coexistence and floral diversification. By analysing multivariate floral traits and the topology of the pollination network in a community of coexisting plant species that share pollinators, we investigated whether plant–pollinator interactions are influenced by multivariate flower phenotype and/or morphological traits. The plant–pollinator network was significantly modular, comprising five distinct pollination niches corresponding to discrete modules that differed in pollinator composition. Pollination niche partitioning was associated with both variation in multivariate floral phenotype and a morphological association between corolla tube and pollinator proboscis lengths. These results highlight the value of integrating multiple floral traits to better understand pollinator responses to complex floral signals. Our findings support the role of trait‐based mechanisms, such as multivariate floral phenotype and pollinator's proboscis length, in structuring modular plant–pollinator networks.