1
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Madeira D, Madeira C, Calosi P, Vermandele F, Carrier-Belleau C, Barria-Araya A, Daigle R, Findlay HS, Poisot T. Multilayer biological networks to upscale marine research to global change-smart management and sustainable resource use. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 944:173837. [PMID: 38866145 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173837] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2023] [Revised: 05/30/2024] [Accepted: 06/05/2024] [Indexed: 06/14/2024]
Abstract
Human activities are having a massive negative impact on biodiversity and ecological processes worldwide. The rate and magnitude of ecological transformations induced by climate change, habitat destruction, overexploitation and pollution are now so substantial that a sixth mass extinction event is currently underway. The biodiversity crisis of the Anthropocene urges scientists to put forward a transformative vision to promote the conservation of biodiversity, and thus indirectly the preservation of ecosystem functions. Here, we identify pressing issues in global change biology research and propose an integrative framework based on multilayer biological networks as a tool to support conservation actions and marine risk assessments in multi-stressor scenarios. Multilayer networks can integrate different levels of environmental and biotic complexity, enabling us to combine information on molecular, physiological and behaviour responses, species interactions and biotic communities. The ultimate aim of this framework is to link human-induced environmental changes to species physiology, fitness, biogeography and ecosystem impacts across vast seascapes and time frames, to help guide solutions to address biodiversity loss and ecological tipping points. Further, we also define our current ability to adopt a widespread use of multilayer networks within ecology, evolution and conservation by providing examples of case-studies. We also assess which approaches are ready to be transferred and which ones require further development before use. We conclude that multilayer biological networks will be crucial to inform (using reliable multi-levels integrative indicators) stakeholders and support their decision-making concerning the sustainable use of resources and marine conservation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana Madeira
- Laboratory for Innovation and Sustainability of Marine Biological Resources (ECOMARE), Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.
| | - Carolina Madeira
- Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit, Department of Life Sciences, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon, Caparica, Portugal; i4HB - Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, School of Science and Technology, NOVA University of Lisbon, Caparica, Portugal
| | - Piero Calosi
- Laboratory of Marine Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology, Department of Biology, Chemistry and Geography, University of Quebec in Rimouski, 300 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, G5L 3A1, Québec, Canada
| | - Fanny Vermandele
- Laboratory of Marine Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology, Department of Biology, Chemistry and Geography, University of Quebec in Rimouski, 300 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, G5L 3A1, Québec, Canada
| | | | - Aura Barria-Araya
- Laboratory of Marine Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology, Department of Biology, Chemistry and Geography, University of Quebec in Rimouski, 300 Allée des Ursulines, Rimouski, G5L 3A1, Québec, Canada
| | - Remi Daigle
- Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada; Marine Affairs Program, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | | | - Timothée Poisot
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada
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2
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Trevenen EJ, Veneklaas EJ, Teste FP, Dobrowolski MP, Mucina L, Renton M. Plant interactions can lead to emergent relationships between plant community diversity, productivity and vulnerability to invasion. Sci Rep 2024; 14:13932. [PMID: 38886365 PMCID: PMC11183213 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-59996-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2024] [Indexed: 06/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding what makes a community vulnerable to invasion is integral to the successful management of invasive species. Our understanding of how characteristics of resident plant interactions, such as the network architecture of interactions, can affect the invasibility of plant communities is limited. Using a simulation model, we tested how successfully a new plant invader established in communities with different network architectures of species interactions. We also investigated whether species interaction networks lead to relationships between invasibility and other community properties also affected by species interaction networks, such as diversity, species dominance, compositional stability and the productivity of the resident community. We found that higher invasibility strongly related with a lower productivity of the resident community. Plant interaction networks influenced diversity and invasibility in ways that led to complex but clear relationships between the two. Heterospecific interactions that increased diversity tended to decrease invasibility. Negative conspecific interactions always increased diversity and invasibility, but increased invasibility more when they increased diversity less. This study provides new theoretical insights into the effects of plant interaction networks on community invasibility and relationships between diversity and invasibility. Combined with increasing empirical evidence, these insights could have useful implications for the management of invasive plant species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth J Trevenen
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
| | - Erik J Veneklaas
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
| | - François P Teste
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
- Instituto de Matemática Aplicada de San Luis (IMASL), CONICET, Universidad Nacional de San Luis, San Luis, Argentina
- Swift Current Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Swift Current, SK, Canada
| | - Mark P Dobrowolski
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
- Iluka Resources Limited, Perth, Australia
- Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
| | - Ladislav Mucina
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
- Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
- Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
| | - Michael Renton
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
- School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
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3
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García Y, Giménez-Benavides L, Iriondo JM, Lara-Romero C, Méndez M, Morente-López J, Santamaría S. Addition of nocturnal pollinators modifies the structure of pollination networks. Sci Rep 2024; 14:1226. [PMID: 38216624 PMCID: PMC10786900 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49944-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Although the ecological network approach has substantially contributed to the study of plant-pollinator interactions, current understanding of their functional structure is biased towards diurnal pollinators. Nocturnal pollinators have been systematically ignored despite the publication of several studies that have tried to alleviate this diurnal bias. Here, we explored whether adding this neglected group of pollinators had a relevant effect on the overall architecture of three high mountain plant-pollinator networks. Including nocturnal moth pollinators modified network properties by decreasing total connectivity, connectance, nestedness and robustness to plant extinction; and increasing web asymmetry and modularity. Nocturnal moths were not preferentially connected to the most linked plants of the networks, and they were grouped into a specific "night" module in only one of the three networks. Our results indicate that ignoring the nocturnal component of plant-pollinator networks may cause changes in network properties different from those expected from random undersampling of diurnal pollinators. Consequently, the neglect of nocturnal interactions may provide a distorted view of the structure of plant-pollinator networks with relevant implications for conservation assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yedra García
- Area of Biodiversity and Conservation, ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, E-28933, Madrid, Spain
- Department of Biology, Lund University, SE-223 62, Lund, Sweden
| | - Luis Giménez-Benavides
- Area of Biodiversity and Conservation, ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, E-28933, Madrid, Spain
| | - José M Iriondo
- Area of Biodiversity and Conservation, ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, E-28933, Madrid, Spain
| | - Carlos Lara-Romero
- Area of Biodiversity and Conservation, ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, E-28933, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Marcos Méndez
- Area of Biodiversity and Conservation, ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, E-28933, Madrid, Spain
| | - Javier Morente-López
- Area of Biodiversity and Conservation, ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, E-28933, Madrid, Spain
- Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología (IPNA-CSIC), Avda. Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez 3, E-38206, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
| | - Silvia Santamaría
- Area of Biodiversity and Conservation, ESCET, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, E-28933, Madrid, Spain
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4
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Construction of an Ecological Security Pattern and the Evaluation of Corridor Priority Based on ESV and the “Importance–Connectivity” Index: A Case Study of Sichuan Province, China. SUSTAINABILITY 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/su14073985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Constructing an ecological security pattern (ESP) is an important means to describe, manage, and control ecological security. However, there are few related studies on functional analyses and evaluations of landscape elements, and the distribution of identified elements cannot fully reflect reality. To accurately depict ecological security and strengthen the role of landscape planning for policy formulation, we used the spatial distribution patterns of ecosystem services to adjust the ecosystem service value to accurately identify the distribution of ecological sources. The gravity model and Centrality Mapper tool are used to build an “importance–connectivity” index that evaluates the importance of ecological corridors in linking the sources and the contribution to maintaining the overall connectivity of ecological networks. The results show that (1) spatial heterogeneity exists in seven kinds of ecosystem services in Sichuan Province, China, and the high-level areas are concentrated in the central region. Moreover, (2) a total of 179 ecological sources and 445 ecological corridors with woodland and grassland as the main land use types are identified, and (3) a total of 153, 49, 78, and 165 corridors are divided into high importance–high connectivity, low importance–high connectivity, high importance–low connectivity, and low importance–low connectivity ecological corridors, respectively. The study provides a new framework for the construction of an ESP and for the priority evaluation of ecological corridors. To achieve balance between economic development and environmental protection, priority should be given to the protection of high-priority corridors when maintaining ecological security.
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5
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Claudino RM, Antonini Y, Martins C, Beirão MV, Braga EM, Azevedo CS. Is bigger always better? Neither body size nor aggressive behavior predicts specialization of hummingbirds in a rocky outcrop. J Zool (1987) 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12961] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- R. M. Claudino
- Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia Conservação e Manejo de Vida Silvestre Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte Brazil
| | - Y. Antonini
- Departamento de Biodiversidade Evolução e Meio Ambiente Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto Ouro Preto Brazil
| | - C. Martins
- Departamento de Biodiversidade Evolução e Meio Ambiente Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto Ouro Preto Brazil
| | - M. V. Beirão
- Departamento de Biodiversidade Evolução e Meio Ambiente Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto Ouro Preto Brazil
| | - E. M. Braga
- Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia Conservação e Manejo de Vida Silvestre Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte Brazil
| | - C. S. Azevedo
- Departamento de Biodiversidade Evolução e Meio Ambiente Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto Ouro Preto Brazil
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6
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Mendes SB, Timóteo S, Loureiro J, Castro S. The impact of habitat loss on pollination services for a threatened dune endemic plant. Oecologia 2021; 198:279-293. [PMID: 34775515 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-021-05070-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2020] [Accepted: 10/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Habitat loss is currently a major threat to biodiversity, affecting species interactions, such as plant-pollinator interactions. This is particularly important in self-incompatible plants relying on pollinators to reproduce and sustain their populations. Here, we evaluated how habitat loss affects the pollination system, plant individual-pollinator species interaction network, and plant reproductive fitness of the self-incompatible Jasione maritima var. sabularia, a threatened taxon from dune systems. This plant is a pollinator generalist, visited by 108 species from distinct taxonomic groups. Results suggest that increasing habitat loss led to a significant decline in pollinator richness, increased pollen limitation, and a decrease in reproductive fitness of J. maritima var. sabularia. Visitation rate per individual did not significantly change with available area, indicating that the quality of pollen differed across populations. The topology of the network between J. maritima var. sabularia individuals and its pollinator species did not change, which may be attributed to the stability in the core of pollinator species. This suggests that the lower fitness of plants with increasing habitat degradation may be explained not only by the lower richness of peripheral pollinators but also by the genetic structure of the plant populations, as there is a possible higher transference of less quality pollen by pollinators, ultimately compromising the persistence of plant populations. Our study highlights the need of future studies to integrate the fine details provided by individual-level networks, which will increase our understanding of the pattern of species interactions and its consequences for the fitness of threatened plant populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Beatriz Mendes
- Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Sérgio Timóteo
- Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
| | - João Loureiro
- Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Sílvia Castro
- Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
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7
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Trevenen EJ, Veneklaas EJ, Teste FP, Dobrowolski M, Mucina L, Renton M. Positive heterospecific interactions can increase long‐term diversity of plant communities more than negative conspecific interactions alone. Funct Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth J. Trevenen
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Perth WA Australia
| | - Erik J. Veneklaas
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Perth WA Australia
- School of Agriculture and Environment The University of Western Australia Perth WA Australia
| | - François P. Teste
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Perth WA Australia
- Grupo de Estudios Ambientales IMASL‐CONICET & Universidad Nacional de San Luis San Luis Argentina
- Swift Current Research and Development Centre Agriculture and Agri‐Food Canada Swift Current SK Canada
| | - Mark P. Dobrowolski
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Perth WA Australia
- Iluka Resources Limited Perth WA Australia
- Harry Butler Institute Murdoch University Perth WA Australia
| | - Ladislav Mucina
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Perth WA Australia
- Harry Butler Institute Murdoch University Perth WA Australia
- Department of Geography & Environmental Studies Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch South Africa
| | - Michael Renton
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Perth WA Australia
- School of Agriculture and Environment The University of Western Australia Perth WA Australia
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8
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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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9
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Xing S, Fayle TM. The rise of ecological network meta-analyses: Problems and prospects. Glob Ecol Conserv 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
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10
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Heleno RH, Mendes F, Coelho AP, Ramos JA, Palmeirim JM, Rainho A, de Lima RF. The upsizing of the São Tomé seed dispersal network by introduced animals. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Ruben H. Heleno
- Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE‐UC), Dept of Life Sciences, Univ. of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas Coimbra Portugal
| | - Filipa Mendes
- Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE‐UC), Dept of Life Sciences, Univ. of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas Coimbra Portugal
| | - Ana P. Coelho
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c) and Dept of Animal Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Univ. of Lisbon Lisboa Portugal
- Dept of Biology and CESAM, Univ. of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago Aveiro Portugal
| | - Jaime A. Ramos
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c) and Dept of Animal Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Univ. of Lisbon Lisboa Portugal
| | - Jorge M. Palmeirim
- Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE), Dept of Life Sciences, Univ. of Coimbra Coimbra Portugal
| | - Ana Rainho
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c) and Dept of Animal Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Univ. of Lisbon Lisboa Portugal
| | - Ricardo F. de Lima
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c) and Dept of Animal Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Univ. of Lisbon Lisboa Portugal
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11
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Peck SL, Heiss A. Can constraint closure provide a generalized understanding of community dynamics in ecosystems? OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.07621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Andrew Heiss
- Dept of Public Management and Policy/Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State Univ. Atlanta GA USA
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12
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Pocock MJO, Schmucki R, Bohan DA. Inferring species interactions from ecological survey data: A mechanistic approach to predict quantitative food webs of seed feeding by carabid beetles. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:12858-12871. [PMID: 34594544 PMCID: PMC8462163 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2020] [Revised: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 07/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecological networks are valuable for ecosystem analysis but their use is often limited by a lack of data because many types of ecological interaction, for example, predation, are short-lived and difficult to observe or detect. While there are different methods for inferring the presence of interactions, they have rarely been used to predict the interaction strengths that are required to construct weighted, or quantitative, ecological networks.Here, we develop a trait-based approach suitable for inferring weighted networks, that is, with varying interaction strengths. We developed the method for seed-feeding carabid ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) although the principles can be applied to other species and types of interaction.Using existing literature data from experimental seed-feeding trials, we predicted a per-individual interaction cost index based on carabid and seed size. This was scaled up to the population level to create inferred weighted networks using the abundance of carabids and seeds from empirical samples and energetic intake rates of carabids from the literature. From these weighted networks, we also derived a novel measure of expected predation pressure per seed type per network.This method was applied to existing ecological survey data from 255 arable fields with carabid data from pitfall traps and plant seeds from seed rain traps. Analysis of these inferred networks led to testable hypotheses about how network structure and predation pressure varied among fields.Inferred networks are valuable because (a) they provide null models for the structuring of food webs to test against empirical species interaction data, for example, DNA analysis of carabid gut regurgitates and (b) they allow weighted networks to be constructed whenever we can estimate interactions between species and have ecological census data available. This permits ecological network analysis even at times and in places when interactions were not directly assessed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Reto Schmucki
- UK Centre for Ecology & HydrologyWallingford, OxfordshireUK
| | - David A. Bohan
- Agroécologie, AgroSup DijonINRAE, Université de Bourgogne Franche‐ComtéDijonFrance
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13
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Schlautmann J, Rehling F, Albrecht J, Jaroszewicz B, Schabo DG, Farwig N. Observing frugivores or collecting scats: a method comparison to construct quantitative seed dispersal networks. OIKOS 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jan Schlautmann
- Conservation Ecology, Dept of Biology, Univ. of Marburg Germany
| | - Finn Rehling
- Conservation Ecology, Dept of Biology, Univ. of Marburg Germany
| | - Jörg Albrecht
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK‐F) Frankfurt/Main Germany
| | - Bogdan Jaroszewicz
- Białowieża Geobotanical Station, Faculty of Biology, Univ. of Warsaw Białowieża Poland
| | - Dana G. Schabo
- Conservation Ecology, Dept of Biology, Univ. of Marburg Germany
| | - Nina Farwig
- Conservation Ecology, Dept of Biology, Univ. of Marburg Germany
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14
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Sudhakar P, Machiels K, Verstockt B, Korcsmaros T, Vermeire S. Computational Biology and Machine Learning Approaches to Understand Mechanistic Microbiome-Host Interactions. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:618856. [PMID: 34046017 PMCID: PMC8148342 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.618856] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2020] [Accepted: 03/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The microbiome, by virtue of its interactions with the host, is implicated in various host functions including its influence on nutrition and homeostasis. Many chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, inflammatory bowel diseases are characterized by a disruption of microbial communities in at least one biological niche/organ system. Various molecular mechanisms between microbial and host components such as proteins, RNAs, metabolites have recently been identified, thus filling many gaps in our understanding of how the microbiome modulates host processes. Concurrently, high-throughput technologies have enabled the profiling of heterogeneous datasets capturing community level changes in the microbiome as well as the host responses. However, due to limitations in parallel sampling and analytical procedures, big gaps still exist in terms of how the microbiome mechanistically influences host functions at a system and community level. In the past decade, computational biology and machine learning methodologies have been developed with the aim of filling the existing gaps. Due to the agnostic nature of the tools, they have been applied in diverse disease contexts to analyze and infer the interactions between the microbiome and host molecular components. Some of these approaches allow the identification and analysis of affected downstream host processes. Most of the tools statistically or mechanistically integrate different types of -omic and meta -omic datasets followed by functional/biological interpretation. In this review, we provide an overview of the landscape of computational approaches for investigating mechanistic interactions between individual microbes/microbiome and the host and the opportunities for basic and clinical research. These could include but are not limited to the development of activity- and mechanism-based biomarkers, uncovering mechanisms for therapeutic interventions and generating integrated signatures to stratify patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Padhmanand Sudhakar
- Department of Chronic Diseases, Metabolism and Ageing, Translational Research Center for Gastrointestinal Disorders (TARGID), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Earlham Institute, Norwich, United Kingdom
- Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich, United Kingdom
| | - Kathleen Machiels
- Department of Chronic Diseases, Metabolism and Ageing, Translational Research Center for Gastrointestinal Disorders (TARGID), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Bram Verstockt
- Department of Chronic Diseases, Metabolism and Ageing, Translational Research Center for Gastrointestinal Disorders (TARGID), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Hospitals Leuven, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Tamas Korcsmaros
- Earlham Institute, Norwich, United Kingdom
- Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich, United Kingdom
| | - Séverine Vermeire
- Department of Chronic Diseases, Metabolism and Ageing, Translational Research Center for Gastrointestinal Disorders (TARGID), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Hospitals Leuven, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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15
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Gray C, Ma A, McLaughlin O, Petit S, Woodward G, Bohan DA. Ecological plasticity governs ecosystem services in multilayer networks. Commun Biol 2021; 4:75. [PMID: 33462363 PMCID: PMC7813848 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01547-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Agriculture is under pressure to achieve sustainable development goals for biodiversity and ecosystem services. Services in agro-ecosystems are typically driven by key species, and changes in the community composition and species abundance can have multifaceted effects. Assessment of individual services overlooks co-variance between different, but related, services coupled by a common group of species. This partial view ignores how effects propagate through an ecosystem. We conduct an analysis of 374 agricultural multilayer networks of two related services of weed seed regulation and gastropod mollusc predation delivered by carabid beetles. We found that weed seed regulation increased with the herbivore predation interaction frequency, computed from the network of trophic links between carabids and weed seeds in the herbivore layer. Weed seed regulation and herbivore interaction frequencies declined as the interaction frequencies between carabids and molluscs in the carnivore layer increased. This suggests that carabids can switch to gastropod predation with community change, and that link turnover rewires the herbivore and carnivore network layers affecting seed regulation. Our study reveals that ecosystem services are governed by ecological plasticity in structurally complex, multi-layer networks. Sustainable management therefore needs to go beyond the autecological approaches to ecosystem services that predominate, particularly in agriculture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clare Gray
- Queen Mary University of London, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, UK
- Department of Life Sciences, Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 7PY, UK
| | - Athen Ma
- Queen Mary University of London, School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, UK
| | - Orla McLaughlin
- Agroécologie, AgroSup Dijon, INRAe, Univ. Bourgogne, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000, Dijon, France
| | - Sandrine Petit
- Agroécologie, AgroSup Dijon, INRAe, Univ. Bourgogne, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000, Dijon, France
| | - Guy Woodward
- Department of Life Sciences, Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 7PY, UK
| | - David A Bohan
- Agroécologie, AgroSup Dijon, INRAe, Univ. Bourgogne, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté, F-21000, Dijon, France.
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16
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Grzędzicka E, Reif J. Impacts of an invasive plant on bird communities differ along a habitat gradient. Glob Ecol Conserv 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
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17
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Sorensen MC, Donoso I, Neuschulz EL, Schleuning M, Mueller T. Community‐wide seed dispersal distances peak at low levels of specialisation in size‐structured networks. OIKOS 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.07337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marjorie C. Sorensen
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre Frankfurt Germany
- Dept of Integrative Biology, Univ. of Guelph Guelph ON Canada
| | - Isabel Donoso
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre Frankfurt Germany
| | | | | | - Thomas Mueller
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre Frankfurt Germany
- Dept of Biological Sciences, Goethe Univ. Frankfurt Frankfurt Germany
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18
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Morán-López T, Espíndola WD, Vizzachero BS, Fontanella A, Salinas L, Arana C, Amico G, Pizo MA, Carlo TA, Morales JM. Can network metrics predict vulnerability and species roles in bird-dispersed plant communities? Not without behaviour. Ecol Lett 2019; 23:348-358. [PMID: 31814305 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2019] [Revised: 06/21/2019] [Accepted: 11/09/2019] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Network metrics are widely used to infer the roles of mutualistic animals in plant communities and to predict the effect of species' loss. However, their empirical validation is scarce. Here we parameterized a joint species model of frugivory and seed dispersal with bird movement and foraging data from tropical and temperate communities. With this model, we investigate the effect of frugivore loss on seed rain, and compare our predictions to those of standard coextinction models and network metrics. Topological coextinction models underestimated species loss after the removal of highly linked frugivores with unique foraging behaviours. Network metrics informed about changes in seed rain quantity after frugivore loss. However, changes in seed rain composition were only predicted by partner diversity. Nestedness, closeness, and d' specialisation could not anticipate the effects of rearrangements in plant-frugivore communities following species loss. Accounting for behavioural differences among mutualists is critical to improve predictions from network models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Morán-López
- Grupo de Ecología Cuantitativa, INIBIOMA-CONICET, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Quintral, 1250, San Carlos De Bariloche, Rio Negro, Argentina
| | - Walter D Espíndola
- Biology Department & Ecology Program, Penn State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.,Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru
| | - Benjamin S Vizzachero
- Biology Department & Ecology Program, Penn State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Antonio Fontanella
- Dept. Zool. Rio Claro, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Inst Biociencias, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Letty Salinas
- Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru
| | - César Arana
- Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru
| | - Guillermo Amico
- Grupo de Ecología Cuantitativa, INIBIOMA-CONICET, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Quintral, 1250, San Carlos De Bariloche, Rio Negro, Argentina
| | - Marco A Pizo
- Dept. Zool. Rio Claro, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Inst Biociencias, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Tomás A Carlo
- Biology Department & Ecology Program, Penn State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.,Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru
| | - Juan M Morales
- Grupo de Ecología Cuantitativa, INIBIOMA-CONICET, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Quintral, 1250, San Carlos De Bariloche, Rio Negro, Argentina
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19
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Hervías-Parejo S, Heleno R, Nogales M, Olesen JM, Traveset A. Divergence in floral trait preferences between nonflower-specialized birds and insects on the Galápagos. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2019; 106:540-546. [PMID: 30985925 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.1270] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2018] [Accepted: 01/29/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE OF THE STUDY The characteristic scarcity of insects on remote oceanic islands has driven nonflower-specialized vertebrates to broaden their trophic niches and explore floral resources. From our previous studies in the Galápagos, we know that native insectivorous and frugivorous birds visit a wide range of entomophilous flowers and can also act as effective pollinators. Here, we tested whether opportunistic Galápagos birds show any preference for specific floral traits, and if so, this preference differs from that of insects. METHODS Sixteen floral morphology and nectar traits of 26 native species were studied, as well as the frequency with which they are visited by birds and insects. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) was used to evaluate the distribution of flower traits values along two main dimensions and measure the similarity between the plants visited mostly by birds versus those by insects. KEY RESULTS NMDS of floral traits resulted in two species groups: (1) bell-shaped, white flowers with wider corollas at nectary level and higher nectar volume, associated with high bird visitation rates; and (2) bowl and tubular-shaped flowers with narrower corollas at nectary level and lower nectar volume, associated with high insect visitation rates. CONCLUSIONS Despite the divergence in floral trait preferences between opportunistic Galápagos birds and insects, bird-visited flowers display mixed traits not fitting the classical ornithophilous syndrome. This finding is compatible with the existence of a transitional or bet-hedging phenotype between insect and bird visitors and underscores the importance of coevolution and floral diversification in nonspecialized plant-visitor interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Hervías-Parejo
- Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats (CSIC-UIB), Global Change Research Group, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
| | - Ruben Heleno
- Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Manuel Nogales
- Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología (CSIC-IPNA), Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Canary Islands, Spain
| | - Jens M Olesen
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Denmark
| | - Anna Traveset
- Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats (CSIC-UIB), Global Change Research Group, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
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20
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Coughlan NE, Dickey JWE, Cuthbert RN, Kelly TC, Jansen MAK, Dick JTA. Driver's Seat: Understanding Divergent Zoochorous Dispersal of Propagules. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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21
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Timóteo S, O'Connor CJ, López-Núñez FA, Costa JM, Gouveia AC, Heleno RH. Pollination networks from natural and anthropogenic-novel communities show high structural similarity. Oecologia 2018; 188:1155-1165. [PMID: 30361763 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-018-4281-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2018] [Accepted: 09/28/2018] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The Anthropocene is marked by an unprecedented homogenisation of the world's biota, confronting species that never co-occurred during their evolutionary histories. Interactions established in these novel communities may affect ecosystem functioning; however, most research has focused on the impacts of a minority of aggressive invasive species, while changes inflicted by a less conspicuous majority of non-invasive alien species on community structure are still poorly understood. This information is critical to guide conservation strategies, and instrumental to advance ecological theory, particularly to understand how non-native species integrate in recipient communities and affect the interactions of native species. We evaluated how the structure of 50 published pollination networks changes with the proportion of alien plant species and found that network structure is largely unaffected. Although some communities were heavily invaded, the proportion of alien plant species was relatively low (mean = 10%; max. = 38%). We further characterized the pollination network in a botanic garden with a plant community dominated by non-invasive alien species (85%). We show that the structure of this novel community is also not markedly different from native-dominated communities. Plant-pollinator interactions revealed no obvious differences regarding plant origin (native vs. alien) or the native bioregion of the introduced plants. This overall similarity between native and alien plants is likely driven by the contrasting patterns of invasive plants (promoting generalism), and non-invasive aliens, suggested here to promote specialization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sérgio Timóteo
- Department of Life Sciences, Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE-UC), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
| | - Catherine J O'Connor
- Department of Life Sciences, Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE-UC), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
- Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Francisco A López-Núñez
- Department of Life Sciences, Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE-UC), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - José M Costa
- Department of Life Sciences, Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE-UC), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - António C Gouveia
- Department of Life Sciences, Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE-UC), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
- Botanic Garden of the University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Ruben H Heleno
- Department of Life Sciences, Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE-UC), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
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22
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Rumeu B, Sheath DJ, Hawes JE, Ings TC. Zooming into plant-flower visitor networks: an individual trait-based approach. PeerJ 2018; 6:e5618. [PMID: 30245938 PMCID: PMC6147118 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.5618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2018] [Accepted: 08/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding how ecological communities are structured is a major goal in ecology. Ecological networks representing interaction patterns among species have become a powerful tool to capture the mechanisms underlying plant-animal assemblages. However, these networks largely do not account for inter-individual variability and thus may be limiting our development of a clear mechanistic understanding of community structure. In this study, we develop a new individual-trait based approach to examine the importance of individual plant and pollinator functional size traits (pollinator thorax width and plant nectar holder depth) in mutualistic networks. We performed hierarchical cluster analyses to group interacting individuals into classes, according to their similarity in functional size. We then compared the structure of bee-flower networks where nodes represented either species identity or trait sets. The individual trait-based network was almost twice as nested as its species-based equivalent and it had a more symmetric linkage pattern resulting from of a high degree of size-matching. In conclusion, we show that by constructing individual trait-based networks we can reveal important patterns otherwise difficult to observe in species-based networks and thus improve our understanding of community structure. We therefore recommend using both trait-based and species-based approaches together to develop a clearer understanding of the properties of ecological networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beatriz Rumeu
- Applied Ecology Research Group, Department of Biology, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom.,Terrestrial Ecology Group, Mediterranean Institute of Advanced Studies (CSIC-UIB), Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
| | - Danny J Sheath
- Institute of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Joseph E Hawes
- Applied Ecology Research Group, Department of Biology, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Thomas C Ings
- Applied Ecology Research Group, Department of Biology, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom.,School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
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23
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Simmons BI, Sutherland WJ, Dicks LV, Albrecht J, Farwig N, García D, Jordano P, González-Varo JP. Moving from frugivory to seed dispersal: Incorporating the functional outcomes of interactions in plant-frugivore networks. J Anim Ecol 2018; 87:995-1007. [PMID: 29603211 PMCID: PMC6849527 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2017] [Accepted: 03/21/2018] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
There is growing interest in understanding the functional outcomes of species interactions in ecological networks. For many mutualistic networks, including pollination and seed dispersal networks, interactions are generally sampled by recording animal foraging visits to plants. However, these visits may not reflect actual pollination or seed dispersal events, despite these typically being the ecological processes of interest. Frugivorous animals can act as seed dispersers, by swallowing entire fruits and dispersing their seeds, or as pulp peckers or seed predators, by pecking fruits to consume pieces of pulp or seeds. These processes have opposing consequences for plant reproductive success. Therefore, equating visitation with seed dispersal could lead to biased inferences about the ecology, evolution and conservation of seed dispersal mutualisms. Here, we use natural history information on the functional outcomes of pairwise bird–plant interactions to examine changes in the structure of seven European plant–frugivore visitation networks after non‐mutualistic interactions (pulp pecking and seed predation) have been removed. Following existing knowledge of the contrasting structures of mutualistic and antagonistic networks, we hypothesized a number of changes following interaction removal, such as increased nestedness and lower specialization. Non‐mutualistic interactions with pulp peckers and seed predators occurred in all seven networks, accounting for 21%–48% of all interactions and 6%–24% of total interaction frequency. When non‐mutualistic interactions were removed, there were significant increases in network‐level metrics such as connectance and nestedness, while robustness decreased. These changes were generally small, homogenous and driven by decreases in network size. Conversely, changes in species‐level metrics were more variable and sometimes large, with significant decreases in plant degree, interaction frequency, specialization and resilience to animal extinctions and significant increases in frugivore species strength. Visitation data can overestimate the actual frequency of seed dispersal services in plant–frugivore networks. We show here that incorporating natural history information on the functions of species interactions can bring us closer to understanding the processes and functions operating in ecological communities. Our categorical approach lays the foundation for future work quantifying functional interaction outcomes along a mutualism–antagonism continuum, as documented in other frugivore faunas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benno I Simmons
- Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - William J Sutherland
- Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Lynn V Dicks
- Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.,Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
| | - Jörg Albrecht
- Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Nina Farwig
- Conservation Ecology, Faculty of Biology, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Daniel García
- Departamento de Biología de Organismos y Sistemas, Unidad Mixta de Investigación en Biodiversidad (CSIC-UO-PA), Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain
| | - Pedro Jordano
- Integrative Ecology Group, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Sevilla, Spain
| | - Juan P González-Varo
- Conservation Science Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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24
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Saiz H, Gómez-Gardeñes J, Borda JP, Maestre FT. The structure of plant spatial association networks is linked to plant diversity in global drylands. THE JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY 2018; 106:10.1111/1365-2745.12935. [PMID: 30038449 PMCID: PMC6054793 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.12935] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
1. Despite commonly used to unveil the complex structure of interactions within ecological communities and their value to assess their resilience against external disturbances, network analyses have seldom been applied in plant communities. We evaluated how plant-plant spatial association networks vary in global drylands, and assessed whether network structure was related to plant diversity in these ecosystems. 2. We surveyed 185 dryland ecosystems from all continents except Antarctica and built networks using the local spatial association between all the perennial plants species present in the communities studied. Then, for each network we calculated four descriptors of network structure (link density, link weight mean and heterogeneity, and structural balance), and evaluated their significance with null models. Finally, we used structural equation models to evaluate how abiotic factors (including geography, topography, climate and soil conditions) and network descriptors influenced plant species richness and evenness. 3. Plant networks were highly variable worldwide, but at most study sites (72%) presented common structures such as a higher link density than expected. We also find evidence of the presence of high structural balance in the networks studied. Moreover, all network descriptors considered had a positive and significant effect on plant diversity, and on species richness in particular. Synthesis. Our results constitute the first empirical evidence showing the existence of common network architectures structuring dryland plant communities at the global scale, and suggest a relationship between the structure of spatial networks and plant diversity. They also highlight the importance of system-level approaches to explain the diversity and structure of interactions in plant communities, two major drivers of terrestrial ecosystem functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hugo Saiz
- Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. C/ Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, SPAIN
| | - Jesús Gómez-Gardeñes
- Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad de Zaragoza. C/ Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, SPAIN
- Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI), Universidad de Zaragoza. C/ Mariano Esquillor (Edificio I+D), 50018, Zaragoza, SPAIN
| | - Juan Pablo Borda
- Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Universidad de Zaragoza. C/ Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, SPAIN
| | - Fernando T Maestre
- Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. C/ Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, SPAIN
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25
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Staudacher K, Rennstam Rubbmark O, Birkhofer K, Malsher G, Sint D, Jonsson M, Traugott M. Habitat heterogeneity induces rapid changes in the feeding behaviour of generalist arthropod predators. Funct Ecol 2018; 32:809-819. [PMID: 29657351 PMCID: PMC5887929 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2017] [Accepted: 11/29/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The "habitat heterogeneity hypothesis" predicts positive effects of structural complexity on species coexistence. Increasing habitat heterogeneity can change the diversity (number of species, abundances) and the functional roles of communities. The latter, however, is not well understood as species and individuals may respond very differently and dynamically to a changing environment.Here, we experimentally test how habitat heterogeneity affects generalist arthropod predators, including epigaeic spiders, carabid and staphylinid beetles, under natural conditions by assessing their diversity and directly measuring their trophic interactions (which provide a proxy for their functional roles). The experiment was conducted in spring barley fields in Southern Sweden where habitat heterogeneity was manipulated by increasing within-field plant diversity.Increased habitat heterogeneity triggered rapid changes in the feeding behaviour of generalist predators characterized by lower trophic specialization at both network (H2', degree of interaction specialization in the entire network) and species level (d', degree of interaction specialization at the species level). We presume that this is because spatial separation resulted in relaxed competition and allowed an increased overlap in resources used among predator species. Predators collected from heterogenous habitats also showed greater individual-level dietary variability which might be ascribed to relaxed intraspecific competition.Our results provide conclusive evidence that habitat heterogeneity can induce rapid behavioural responses independent of changes in diversity, potentially promoting the stability of ecosystem functions. A plain language summary is available for this article.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karin Staudacher
- Mountain Agriculture Research UnitInstitute of Ecology University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria
| | - Oskar Rennstam Rubbmark
- Mountain Agriculture Research UnitInstitute of Ecology University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria
| | - Klaus Birkhofer
- Department of Biology Lund University Lund Sweden.,Chair of Ecology Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus Germany
| | - Gerard Malsher
- Department of Ecology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden
| | - Daniela Sint
- Mountain Agriculture Research UnitInstitute of Ecology University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria
| | - Mattias Jonsson
- Department of Ecology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden
| | - Michael Traugott
- Mountain Agriculture Research UnitInstitute of Ecology University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria
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26
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Ma A, Bohan DA, Canard E, Derocles SA, Gray C, Lu X, Macfadyen S, Romero GQ, Kratina P. A Replicated Network Approach to ‘Big Data’ in Ecology. ADV ECOL RES 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.aecr.2018.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
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27
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Plant sex affects the structure of plant-pollinator networks in a subtropical forest. Oecologia 2017; 185:269-279. [PMID: 28879614 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-017-3942-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2016] [Accepted: 08/26/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Although it has long been recognized that the diversified sexual systems of plants could influence community patterns and pollination specialization, plant sex is not usually incorporated to quantify plant-pollinator networks. In this study, we observed 1776 visitations corresponding to 84 pollinator species and 28 plant species (19 sexually monomorphic plants and 9 dioecious plants) in a subtropical forest, China. We constructed three networks by, respectively, combining visitations to dioecious female and male plants at the species level, separating them, and retaining the shared visitations between them. When the shared visitations between male and female plants were considered, the modularity was increased and the nestedness was decreased with a significantly low robustness for the plant community. Only in this network, most dioecious and hermaphroditic plants were associated with different pollinator groups and separated to different modules. The results also showed that dioecious plants were more generalized and more likely to be module hubs in sex-combined network and sex-separated network but not in sex-shared network. Only in the sex-separated network, pollinators in dioecious modules were less selective than in hermaphroditic modules. Our study shows incorporating the different visitations between plant sexes could affect the analysis of key network structure properties and the description of pollination niche. To better understand niche partitioning and stability of plant-pollinator communities, it is necessary to compare pollination networks considering plant sexual diversity.
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28
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López-Núñez FA, Heleno RH, Ribeiro S, Marchante H, Marchante E. Four-trophic level food webs reveal the cascading impacts of an invasive plant targeted for biocontrol. Ecology 2017; 98:782-793. [DOI: 10.1002/ecy.1701] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2016] [Revised: 10/21/2016] [Accepted: 11/29/2016] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Francisco A. López-Núñez
- Centre for Functional Ecology; Department of Life Sciences; University of Coimbra; Calçada Martim de Freitas 3000-456 Coimbra Portugal
| | - Ruben H. Heleno
- Centre for Functional Ecology; Department of Life Sciences; University of Coimbra; Calçada Martim de Freitas 3000-456 Coimbra Portugal
| | - Sérgio Ribeiro
- Centre for Functional Ecology; Department of Life Sciences; University of Coimbra; Calçada Martim de Freitas 3000-456 Coimbra Portugal
| | - Hélia Marchante
- Centre for Functional Ecology; Department of Life Sciences; University of Coimbra; Calçada Martim de Freitas 3000-456 Coimbra Portugal
- Department of Environment; Coimbra Polytechnic Institute, Higher School of Agriculture; Bencanta 3045-601 Coimbra Portugal
| | - Elizabete Marchante
- Centre for Functional Ecology; Department of Life Sciences; University of Coimbra; Calçada Martim de Freitas 3000-456 Coimbra Portugal
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Venner S, Miele V, Terzian C, Biémont C, Daubin V, Feschotte C, Pontier D. Ecological networks to unravel the routes to horizontal transposon transfers. PLoS Biol 2017; 15:e2001536. [PMID: 28199335 PMCID: PMC5331948 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.2001536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Transposable elements (TEs) represent the single largest component of numerous eukaryotic genomes, and their activity and dispersal constitute an important force fostering evolutionary innovation. The horizontal transfer of TEs (HTT) between eukaryotic species is a common and widespread phenomenon that has had a profound impact on TE dynamics and, consequently, on the evolutionary trajectory of many species' lineages. However, the mechanisms promoting HTT remain largely unknown. In this article, we argue that network theory combined with functional ecology provides a robust conceptual framework and tools to delineate how complex interactions between diverse organisms may act in synergy to promote HTTs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel Venner
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive UMR5558-CNRS, Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, Lyon, France
- LabEx ECOFECT (Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of Infectious Diseases), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, Lyon, France
| | - Vincent Miele
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive UMR5558-CNRS, Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, Lyon, France
| | - Christophe Terzian
- LabEx ECOFECT (Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of Infectious Diseases), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, Lyon, France
- UMR754 INRA, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
- Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, France
| | - Christian Biémont
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive UMR5558-CNRS, Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, Lyon, France
| | - Vincent Daubin
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive UMR5558-CNRS, Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, Lyon, France
- LabEx ECOFECT (Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of Infectious Diseases), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, Lyon, France
| | - Cédric Feschotte
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah, School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Dominique Pontier
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive UMR5558-CNRS, Université de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, Lyon, France
- LabEx ECOFECT (Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of Infectious Diseases), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, Lyon, France
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Ballantyne G, Baldock KCR, Willmer PG. Constructing more informative plant-pollinator networks: visitation and pollen deposition networks in a heathland plant community. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 282:rspb.2015.1130. [PMID: 26336181 PMCID: PMC4571695 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Interaction networks are widely used as tools to understand plant–pollinator communities, and to examine potential threats to plant diversity and food security if the ecosystem service provided by pollinating animals declines. However, most networks to date are based on recording visits to flowers, rather than recording clearly defined effective pollination events. Here we provide the first networks that explicitly incorporate measures of pollinator effectiveness (PE) from pollen deposition on stigmas per visit, and pollinator importance (PI) as the product of PE and visit frequency. These more informative networks, here produced for a low diversity heathland habitat, reveal that plant–pollinator interactions are more specialized than shown in most previous studies. At the studied site, the specialization index was lower for the visitation network than the PE network, which was in turn lower than for the PI network. Our study shows that collecting PE data is feasible for community-level studies in low diversity communities and that including information about PE can change the structure of interaction networks. This could have important consequences for our understanding of threats to pollination systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Ballantyne
- School of Biological Sciences, University of St Andrews, Harold Mitchell Building, St Andrews KY16 9TH, UK
| | - Katherine C R Baldock
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Sciences Building, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK Cabot Institute, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UJ, UK
| | - P G Willmer
- School of Biological Sciences, University of St Andrews, Harold Mitchell Building, St Andrews KY16 9TH, UK
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Ibanez S, Arène F, Lavergne S. How phylogeny shapes the taxonomic and functional structure of plant-insect networks. Oecologia 2016; 180:989-1000. [PMID: 26787076 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-016-3552-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2014] [Accepted: 10/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Phylogenetically related species share a common evolutionary history and may therefore have similar traits. In terms of interaction networks, where traits are a major determinant, related species should therefore interact with other species which are also related. However, this prediction is challenged by current evidence that there is a weak, albeit significant, phylogenetic signal in species' taxonomic niche, i.e., the identity of interacting species. We studied mutualistic and antagonistic plant-insect interaction networks in species-rich alpine meadows and show that there is instead a very strong phylogenetic signal in species' functional niches-i.e., the mean functional traits of their interactors. This pattern emerges because related species tend to interact with species bearing certain traits that allow biotic interactions (pollination, herbivory) but not necessarily with species from all the same evolutionary lineages. Those traits define a set of potential interactors and show clear patterns of phylogenetic clustering on several portions of plants and insect phylogenies. Thus, this emerging pattern of low phylogenetic signal in taxonomic niches but high phylogenetic signal in functional niches may be driven by the interplay between functional trait convergence across plants' and insects' phylogenies and random sampling of the potential interactors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sébastien Ibanez
- Laboratoire d'Écologie Alpine (LECA), UMR 5553, CNRS/Université de Savoie, 73000, Chambéry, France.
| | - Fabien Arène
- Laboratoire d'Écologie Alpine (LECA), UMR 5553, CNRS/Université Grenoble Alpes, 38000, Grenoble, France
| | - Sébastien Lavergne
- Laboratoire d'Écologie Alpine (LECA), UMR 5553, CNRS/Université Grenoble Alpes, 38000, Grenoble, France
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Pocock MJ, Evans DM, Fontaine C, Harvey M, Julliard R, McLaughlin Ó, Silvertown J, Tamaddoni-Nezhad A, White PC, Bohan DA. The Visualisation of Ecological Networks, and Their Use as a Tool for Engagement, Advocacy and Management. ADV ECOL RES 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.aecr.2015.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
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Traveset A, Chamorro S, Olesen JM, Heleno R. Space, time and aliens: charting the dynamic structure of Galápagos pollination networks. AOB PLANTS 2015; 7:plv068. [PMID: 26104283 PMCID: PMC4522039 DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plv068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2015] [Accepted: 06/13/2015] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Oceanic archipelagos are threatened by the introduction of alien species which can severely disrupt the structure, function and stability of native communities. Here we investigated the pollination interactions in the two most disturbed Galápagos Islands, comparing the three main habitats and the two seasons, and assessing the impacts of alien plant invasions on network structure. We found that the pollination network structure was rather consistent between the two islands, but differed across habitats and seasons. Overall, the arid zone had the largest networks and highest species generalization levels whereas either the transition between habitats or the humid habitat showed lower values. Our data suggest that alien plants integrate easily into the communities, but with low impact on overall network structure, except for an increase in network selectiveness. The humid zone showed the highest nestedness and the lowest modularity, which might be explained by the low species diversity and the higher incidence of alien plants in this habitat. Both pollinators and plants were also more generalized in the hot season, when networks showed to be more nested. Alien species (both plants and pollinators) represented a high fraction (∼56 %) of the total number of interactions in the networks. It is thus likely that, in spite of the overall weak effect we found of alien plant invasion on pollination network structure, these introduced species influence the reproductive success of native ones, and by doing so, they affect the functioning of the community. This certainly deserves further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Traveset
- Laboratorio Internacional de Cambio Global (LINC-Global), Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats (CSIC-UIB), C/Miquel Marqués 21, 07190-Esporles, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
| | - Susana Chamorro
- Laboratorio Internacional de Cambio Global (LINC-Global), Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats (CSIC-UIB), C/Miquel Marqués 21, 07190-Esporles, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain Present address: Universidad Internacional SEK, Facultad de Ciencias Ambientales, Calle Alberto Einstein y 5ta transversal, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Jens M Olesen
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Ruben Heleno
- Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal
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Affiliation(s)
- Gili Greenbaum
- Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
- Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
| | - Oren Hoffman
- The Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
| | - Omri Shalev
- Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
| | - Yuval R. Zelnik
- Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics, The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
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Gu H, Goodale E, Chen J. Emerging directions in the study of the ecology and evolution of plant-animal mutualistic networks: a review. DONG WU XUE YAN JIU = ZOOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2015; 36:65-71. [PMID: 25855224 DOI: 10.13918/j.issn.2095-8137.2015.2.65] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Abstract
The study of mutualistic plant and animal networks is an emerging field of ecological research. We reviewed progress in this field over the past 30 years. While earlier studies mostly focused on network structure, stability, and biodiversity maintenance, recent studies have investigated the conservation implications of mutualistic networks, specifically the influence of invasive species and how networks respond to habitat loss. Current research has also focused on evolutionary questions including phylogenetic signal in networks, impact of networks on the coevolution of interacting partners, and network influences on the evolution of interacting species. We outline some directions for future research, particularly the evolution of specialization in mutualistic networks, and provide concrete recommendations for environmental managers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Gu
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla Yunnan 666303, China;2 Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Eben Goodale
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla Yunnan 666303, China
| | - Jin Chen
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla Yunnan 666303, China. ,
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Chagnon P, Bradley R, Klironomos J. Plant–fungal symbioses as ecological networks: the need to characterize more than just interaction patterns. FUNGAL ECOL 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.funeco.2014.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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