1
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Bello C, Schleuning M, Graham CH. Analyzing trophic ecosystem functions with the interaction functional space. Trends Ecol Evol 2023; 38:424-434. [PMID: 36599738 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.12.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2021] [Revised: 11/18/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Quantifying the vulnerability of ecosystems to global change requires a better understanding of how trophic ecosystem functions emerge. So far, trophic ecosystem functions have been studied from the perspective of either functional diversity or network ecology. To integrate these two perspectives, we propose the interaction functional space (IFS) a conceptual framework to simultaneously analyze the effects of traits and interactions on trophic functions. We exemplify the added value of our framework for seed dispersal and wood decomposition and show how species interactions influence the relationship between functional trait diversity and trophic functions. We propose future applications for a range of functions where the IFS can help to elucidate mechanisms underpinning trophic functions and facilitate understanding of functional changes in ecosystems amidst global change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolina Bello
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 2, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
| | - Matthias Schleuning
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Catherine H Graham
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Zürcherstrasse 111, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
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2
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Hodge JR, Price SA. Biotic Interactions and the Future of Fishes on Coral Reefs: The Importance of Trait-Based Approaches. Integr Comp Biol 2022; 62:1734-1747. [PMID: 36138511 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icac147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2022] [Revised: 08/24/2022] [Accepted: 09/06/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Biotic interactions govern the structure and function of coral reef ecosystems. As environmental conditions change, reef-associated fish populations can persist by tracking their preferred niche or adapting to new conditions. Biotic interactions will affect how these responses proceed and whether they are successful. Yet, our understanding of these effects is currently limited. Ecological and evolutionary theories make explicit predictions about the effects of biotic interactions, but many remain untested. Here, we argue that large-scale functional trait datasets enable us to investigate how biotic interactions have shaped the assembly of contemporary reef fish communities and the evolution of species within them, thus improving our ability to predict future changes. Importantly, the effects of biotic interactions on these processes have occurred simultaneously within dynamic environments. Functional traits provide a means to integrate the effects of both ecological and evolutionary processes, as well as a way to overcome some of the challenges of studying biotic interactions. Moreover, functional trait data can enhance predictive modeling of future reef fish distributions and evolvability. We hope that our vision for an integrative approach, focused on quantifying functionally relevant traits and how they mediate biotic interactions in different environmental contexts, will catalyze new research on the future of reef fishes in a changing environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer R Hodge
- Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
| | - Samantha A Price
- Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA
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3
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Strydom T, Catchen MD, Banville F, Caron D, Dansereau G, Desjardins-Proulx P, Forero-Muñoz NR, Higino G, Mercier B, Gonzalez A, Gravel D, Pollock L, Poisot T. A roadmap towards predicting species interaction networks (across space and time). Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20210063. [PMID: 34538135 PMCID: PMC8450634 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Networks of species interactions underpin numerous ecosystem processes, but comprehensively sampling these interactions is difficult. Interactions intrinsically vary across space and time, and given the number of species that compose ecological communities, it can be tough to distinguish between a true negative (where two species never interact) from a false negative (where two species have not been observed interacting even though they actually do). Assessing the likelihood of interactions between species is an imperative for several fields of ecology. This means that to predict interactions between species-and to describe the structure, variation, and change of the ecological networks they form-we need to rely on modelling tools. Here, we provide a proof-of-concept, where we show how a simple neural network model makes accurate predictions about species interactions given limited data. We then assess the challenges and opportunities associated with improving interaction predictions, and provide a conceptual roadmap forward towards predictive models of ecological networks that is explicitly spatial and temporal. We conclude with a brief primer on the relevant methods and tools needed to start building these models, which we hope will guide this research programme forward. This article is part of the theme issue 'Infectious disease macroecology: parasite diversity and dynamics across the globe'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tanya Strydom
- Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada H2V 0B3
- Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montréal, Canada
| | - Michael D. Catchen
- Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montréal, Canada
- McGill University, Montréal, Canada
| | - Francis Banville
- Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada H2V 0B3
- Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montréal, Canada
- Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
| | - Dominique Caron
- Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montréal, Canada
- McGill University, Montréal, Canada
| | - Gabriel Dansereau
- Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada H2V 0B3
- Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montréal, Canada
| | - Philippe Desjardins-Proulx
- Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada H2V 0B3
- Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montréal, Canada
| | - Norma R. Forero-Muñoz
- Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada H2V 0B3
- Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montréal, Canada
| | | | - Benjamin Mercier
- Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montréal, Canada
- Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
| | - Andrew Gonzalez
- Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montréal, Canada
- McGill University, Montréal, Canada
| | - Dominique Gravel
- Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montréal, Canada
- Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
| | - Laura Pollock
- Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montréal, Canada
- McGill University, Montréal, Canada
| | - Timothée Poisot
- Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada H2V 0B3
- Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montréal, Canada
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4
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Building food networks from molecular data: Bayesian or fixed-number thresholds for including links. Basic Appl Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2020.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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5
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Bramon Mora B, Shin E, CaraDonna PJ, Stouffer DB. Untangling the seasonal dynamics of plant-pollinator communities. Nat Commun 2020; 11:4086. [PMID: 32796828 PMCID: PMC7429506 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17894-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2019] [Accepted: 07/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecological communities often show changes in populations and their interactions over time. To date, however, it has been challenging to effectively untangle the mechanisms shaping such dynamics. One approach that has yet to be fully explored is to treat the varying structure of empirical communities-i.e. their network of interactions-as time series. Here, we follow this approach by applying a network-comparison technique to study the seasonal dynamics of plant-pollinator networks. We find that the structure of these networks is extremely variable, where species constantly change how they interact with each other within seasons. Most importantly, we find the holistic dynamic of plants and pollinators to be remarkably coherent across years, allowing us to reveal general rules by which species first enter, then change their roles, and finally leave the networks. Overall, our results disentangle key aspects of species' interaction turnover, phenology, and seasonal assembly/disassembly processes in empirical plant-pollinator communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bernat Bramon Mora
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
- Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
| | - Eura Shin
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
- University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA
| | - Paul J CaraDonna
- Chicago Botanic Garden, Chicago, IL, USA
- Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Crested Butte, CO, USA
| | - Daniel B Stouffer
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
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6
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Chávez-González E, Vizentin-Bugoni J, Vázquez DP, MacGregor-Fors I, Dáttilo W, Ortiz-Pulido R. Drivers of the structure of plant-hummingbird interaction networks at multiple temporal scales. Oecologia 2020; 193:913-924. [PMID: 32772157 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-020-04727-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2019] [Accepted: 08/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
In semi-arid environments, the marked contrast in temperature and precipitation over the year strongly shapes ecological communities. The composition of species and their ecological interactions within a community may vary greatly over time. Although intra-annual variations are often studied, empirical information on how plant-bird relationships are structured within and among years, and how their drivers may change over time are still limited. In this study, we analyzed the temporal dynamics of the structure of plant-hummingbird interaction networks by evaluating changes in species richness, diversity of interactions, modularity, network specialization, nestedness, and β-diversity of interactions throughout four years in a Mexican xeric shrubland landscape. We also evaluated if the relative importance of abundance, phenology, morphology, and nectar sugar content consistently explains the frequency of pairwise interactions between plants and hummingbirds across different years. We found that species richness, diversity of interactions, nestedness, and network specialization did vary within and among years. We also observed that the β-diversity of interactions was high among years and was mostly associated with species turnover (i.e., changes in species composition), with a minor contribution of interaction rewiring (i.e., shifting partner species at different times). Finally, the temporal co-occurrence of hummingbird and plant species among months was the best predictor of the frequency of pairwise interactions, and this pattern was consistent within and among years. Our study underscores the importance of considering the temporal scale to understand how changes in species phenologies, and the resulting temporal co-occurrences influence the structure of interaction networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edgar Chávez-González
- Red de Ecoetología, Instituto de Ecología A.C. Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico
- Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Instituto de Ciencias Básicas E Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico
| | - Jeferson Vizentin-Bugoni
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, USA
| | - Diego P Vázquez
- Argentine Institute for Dryland Research, CONICET, Mendoza, Argentina
- Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
- Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, National University of Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
| | - Ian MacGregor-Fors
- Red de Ambiente Y Sustentabilidad, Instituto de Ecología A.C. Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico
| | - Wesley Dáttilo
- Red de Ecoetología, Instituto de Ecología A.C. Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.
| | - Raúl Ortiz-Pulido
- Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Instituto de Ciencias Básicas E Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico
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7
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Terry JCD, Lewis OT. Finding missing links in interaction networks. Ecology 2020; 101:e03047. [PMID: 32219855 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2019] [Revised: 02/05/2020] [Accepted: 02/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Documenting which species interact within ecological communities is challenging and labor intensive. As a result, many interactions remain unrecorded, potentially distorting our understanding of network structure and dynamics. We test the utility of four structural models and a new coverage-deficit model for predicting missing links in both simulated and empirical bipartite networks. We find they can perform well, although the predictive power of structural models varies with the underlying network structure. The accuracy of predictions can be improved by ensembling multiple models. Augmenting observed networks with most-likely missing links improves estimates of qualitative network metrics. Tools to identify likely missing links can be simple to implement, allowing the prioritization of research effort and more robust assessment of network properties.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Owen T Lewis
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PS, United Kingdom
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8
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Sonne J, Vizentin-Bugoni J, Maruyama PK, Araujo AC, Chávez-González E, Coelho AG, Cotton PA, Marín-Gómez OH, Lara C, Lasprilla LR, Machado CG, Maglianesi MA, Malucelli TS, González AMM, Oliveira GM, Oliveira PE, Ortiz-Pulido R, Rocca MA, Rodrigues LC, Sazima I, Simmons BI, Tinoco B, Varassin IG, Vasconcelos MF, O'Hara B, Schleuning M, Rahbek C, Sazima M, Dalsgaard B. Ecological mechanisms explaining interactions within plant-hummingbird networks: morphological matching increases towards lower latitudes. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20192873. [PMID: 32156208 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Interactions between species are influenced by different ecological mechanisms, such as morphological matching, phenological overlap and species abundances. How these mechanisms explain interaction frequencies across environmental gradients remains poorly understood. Consequently, we also know little about the mechanisms that drive the geographical patterns in network structure, such as complementary specialization and modularity. Here, we use data on morphologies, phenologies and abundances to explain interaction frequencies between hummingbirds and plants at a large geographical scale. For 24 quantitative networks sampled throughout the Americas, we found that the tendency of species to interact with morphologically matching partners contributed to specialized and modular network structures. Morphological matching best explained interaction frequencies in networks found closer to the equator and in areas with low-temperature seasonality. When comparing the three ecological mechanisms within networks, we found that both morphological matching and phenological overlap generally outperformed abundances in the explanation of interaction frequencies. Together, these findings provide insights into the ecological mechanisms that underlie geographical patterns in resource specialization. Notably, our results highlight morphological constraints on interactions as a potential explanation for increasing resource specialization towards lower latitudes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesper Sonne
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
| | - Jeferson Vizentin-Bugoni
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.,Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Pietro K Maruyama
- Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.,Centro de Síntese Ecológica e Conservação, Departamento de Genética, Ecologia e Evolução, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Andréa C Araujo
- Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil
| | - Edgar Chávez-González
- Centro de Investigaciones Biologicas, Instituto de Ciencias Basicas e Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Km 4.5, Carretera Pachuca-Tulancingo, Mineral de la Reforma, Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico
| | - Aline G Coelho
- Laboratório de Ornitologia, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil
| | - Peter A Cotton
- Marine Biology and Ecology Research Centre, Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK
| | - Oscar H Marín-Gómez
- Red de Ambiente y Sustentabilidad, Instituto de Ecología, A.C, Carretera antigua a Coatepec 351 El Haya, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico
| | - Carlos Lara
- Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Km 10.5 Autopista Tlaxcala-San Martín Texmelucan, San Felipe Ixtacuixtla, Tlaxcala, Mexico
| | - Liliana R Lasprilla
- Escuela de Ciencias Biologicas, Grupo de Investigación Biología para la Conservación, Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, Tunja, Boyacá, Colombia
| | - Caio G Machado
- Laboratório de Ornitologia, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil
| | - Maria A Maglianesi
- Vicerrectoría de Investigación, Universidad Estatal a Distancia, San José, Costa Rica.,Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, Frankfurt (Main), Germany
| | - Tiago S Malucelli
- Laboratório de Interações e Biologia Reprodutiva, Departamento de Botânica, Centro Politécnico, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
| | - Ana M Martín González
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.,Pacific Ecoinformatics and Computational Ecology Lab, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Genilda M Oliveira
- Instituto Federal de Brasília, Campus Samambaia, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil
| | - Paulo E Oliveira
- Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Raul Ortiz-Pulido
- Centro de Investigaciones Biologicas, Instituto de Ciencias Basicas e Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo, Km 4.5, Carretera Pachuca-Tulancingo, Mineral de la Reforma, Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico
| | - Márcia A Rocca
- Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Avenida Marechal Rondon, s/n, Jardim Rosa Elze, São Cristóvão, Sergipe, Brazil
| | - Licléia C Rodrigues
- Laboratório de Ornitologia, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Ivan Sazima
- Museu de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Benno I Simmons
- Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, The David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, UK.,Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.,Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, UK
| | - Boris Tinoco
- Escuela de Biología, Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca, Ecuador
| | - Isabela G Varassin
- Laboratório de Interações e Biologia Reprodutiva, Departamento de Botânica, Centro Politécnico, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
| | - Marcelo F Vasconcelos
- Museu de Ciências Naturais, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Coração Eucarístico, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Bob O'Hara
- Department of Mathematical Sciences and Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Matthias Schleuning
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, Frankfurt (Main), Germany
| | - Carsten Rahbek
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.,Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK.,Danish Institute for Advanced Study, University of Southern Denmark, Odense M 5230, Denmark
| | - Marlies Sazima
- Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Bo Dalsgaard
- Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
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9
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Cirtwill AR, Eklöf A, Roslin T, Wootton K, Gravel D. A quantitative framework for investigating the reliability of empirical network construction. Methods Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa R. Cirtwill
- Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM)Linköping University Linköping Sweden
| | - Anna Eklöf
- Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM)Linköping University Linköping Sweden
| | - Tomas Roslin
- Department of EcologySwedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden
| | - Kate Wootton
- Department of EcologySwedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden
| | - Dominique Gravel
- Département de biologieUniversité de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke Canada
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10
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Henriksen MV, Chapple DG, Chown SL, McGeoch MA. The effect of network size and sampling completeness in depauperate networks. J Anim Ecol 2018; 88:211-222. [PMID: 30291749 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2018] [Accepted: 10/01/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The accurate estimation of interaction network structure is essential for understanding network stability and function. A growing number of studies evaluate under-sampling as the degree of sampling completeness (proportional richness observed). How the relationship between network structural metrics and sampling completeness varies across networks of different sizes remains unclear, but this relationship has implications for the within- and between-system comparability of network structure. Here, we test the combined effects of network size and sampling completeness on the structure of spatially distinct networks (i.e., subwebs) in a host-parasitoid model system to better understand the within-system variability in metric bias. Richness estimates were used to quantify a gradient of sampling completeness of species and interactions across randomly subsampled subwebs. The combined impacts of network size and sampling completeness on the estimated values of twelve unweighted and weighted network metrics were tested. The robustness of network metrics to under-sampling was strongly related to network size, and sampling completeness of interactions were generally a better predictor of metric bias than sampling completeness of species. Weighted metrics often performed better than unweighted metrics at low sampling completeness; however, this was mainly evident at large rather than small subweb size. These outcomes highlight the significance of under-sampling for the comparability of both unweighted and weighted network metrics when networks are small and vary in size. This has implications for within-system comparability of species-poor networks and, more generally, reveals problems with under-sampling ecological networks that may otherwise be difficult to detect in species-rich networks. To mitigate the impacts of under-sampling, more careful considerations of system-specific variation in metric bias are needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie V Henriksen
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Vic., Australia
| | - David G Chapple
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Vic., Australia
| | - Steven L Chown
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Vic., Australia
| | - Melodie A McGeoch
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Vic., Australia
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11
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Graham CH, Weinstein BG. Towards a predictive model of species interaction beta diversity. Ecol Lett 2018; 21:1299-1310. [PMID: 29968312 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2017] [Revised: 01/08/2018] [Accepted: 03/29/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Species interactions are fundamental to community dynamics and ecosystem processes. Despite significant progress in describing species interactions, we lack the ability to predict changes in interactions across space and time. We outline a Bayesian approach to separate the probability of species co-occurrence, interaction and detectability in influencing interaction betadiversity. We use a multi-year hummingbird-plant time series, divided into training and testing data, to show that including models of detectability and occurrence improves forecasts of mutualistic interactions. We then extend our model to explore interaction betadiversity across two distinct seasons. Despite differences in the observed interactions among seasons, there was no significant change in hummingbird occurrence or interaction frequency between hummingbirds and plants. These results highlight the challenge of inferring the causes of interaction betadiversity when interaction detectability is low. Finally, we highlight potential applications of our model for integrating observations of local interactions with biogeographic and evolutionary histories of co-occurring species. These advances will provide new insight into the mechanisms that drive variation in patterns of biodiversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine H Graham
- Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, CH-8903, Birmensdorf
| | - Ben G Weinstein
- Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University, 2030 Marine Science Drive, Newport, OR, 97365, USA
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12
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Linking DNA Metabarcoding and Text Mining to Create Network-Based Biomonitoring Tools: A Case Study on Boreal Wetland Macroinvertebrate Communities. ADV ECOL RES 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.aecr.2018.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
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