Pollinator-mediated competition and facilitation are key to maintaining
plant communities by allowing rare and abundant species to coexist. To
understand the dynamics of these processes, we evaluated the effect of
dense dependence on visitation rates and pollen tubes in
hummingbird-pollinated plants. Furthermore, we calculate the functional
similarity and contribution of rare and abundant plants in competition
and facilitation. We identified negative dense-dependence on the
visitation rate, but with no effect on pollen tubes. Functional
similarity between rare and abundant plants did not vary in different
contexts of facilitation and competition, with greater functional
contribution by rare ones. Our results indicate the relevance of
conspecific abundance as a predictor to infer interactions and patterns
of functional diversity. The maintenance of both more similar and more
extreme traits from rare species may be another way to guarantee their
advantage in high heterospecific density.