eSSENCE@LU 9:5 - Pollination eScience: Extending latent-variable modelling of plant-pollinator interactions 

Ongoing changes in climate and land-use are exposing plant populations worldwide to pollinator declines and changes in the composition of pollinator assemblages. These new conditions impose novel challenges for plants that rely on animal pollinators for reproduction. Efficient conservation decisions and actions in response to these environmental changes rely on accurate forecasts of how and when plant populations adapt evolutionarily to novel pollination environments. Despite recent empirical advances, I propose that further progress is currently hampered by a lack of appropriate digital tools such as software implementing statistical methods needed to analyse large complex datasets from multi-species natural communities. This project will develop such tools, thus facilitating the research necessary to inform more accurate predictions of the future or animal-pollinated plants and their pollinators.