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de Araújo WS, Bergamini LL, Almeida-Neto M. Global effects of land-use intensity and exotic plants on the structure and phylogenetic signal of plant-herbivore networks. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 944:173949. [PMID: 38876343 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173949] [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: 11/16/2023] [Revised: 04/23/2024] [Accepted: 06/10/2024] [Indexed: 06/16/2024]
Abstract
Interactions between plants and herbivorous insects are often phylogenetically structured, with closely related insect species using similar sets of species or lineages of plants, while phylogenetically closer plants tend to share high proportions of their herbivore insect species. Notably, these phylogenetic constraints in plant-herbivore interactions tend to be more pronounced among internal plant-feeding herbivores (i.e., endophages) than among external feeders (i.e., exophages). In the context of growing human-induced habitat conversion and the global proliferation of exotic species, it is crucial to understand how ecological networks respond to land-use intensification and the increasing presence of exotic plants. In this study, we analyzed plant-herbivore network data from various locations of the World to ascertain the degree to which land-use intensity and the prevalence of exotic plants induce predictable changes in their network topology - measured by levels of nestedness and modularity - and phylogenetic structures. Additionally, we investigated whether the intimacy of plant-herbivore interactions, contrasting endophagous with exophagous networks, modulate changes in network structure. Our findings reveal that most plant-herbivore networks are characterized by significant phylogenetic and topological structures. However, neither these structures did not show consistent changes in response to increased levels of land-use intensify. On the other hand, for the networks composed of endophagous herbivores, the level of nestedness was higher in the presence of a high proportion of exotic plants. Additionally, for networks of exophagous herbivores, we observed an increase in the phylogenetic structure of interactions due to exotic host dominance. These results underscore the differential impacts of exotic species and land-use intensity on the phylogenetic and topological structures of plant-herbivore networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Walter Santos de Araújo
- Departamento de Biologia Geral, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, Montes Claros, MG 39401-089, Brazil..
| | - Leonardo Lima Bergamini
- Centro de Estudos Ambientais do Cerrado, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, Reserva Ecológica do IBGE, Brasília, DF 70312-970, Brazil
| | - Mário Almeida-Neto
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO 74001-970, Brazil
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2
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Bat-parasite interaction networks in urban green areas in northeastern Brazil. Parasitology 2023; 150:262-268. [PMID: 36529860 PMCID: PMC10090594 DOI: 10.1017/s0031182022001718] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Interaction networks can provide detailed information regarding ecological systems, helping us understand how communities are organized and species are connected. The goals of this study were to identify the pattern of interaction between bats and ectoparasites in urban green areas of Grande Aracaju, Sergipe, and calculate connectance, specialization, nesting, modularity and centrality metrics. Bats were captured using 10 mist nets inside and on the edges of the fragments, and the collected ectoparasites were stored in 70% alcohol. All analyses were performed using R software. The interaction network consisted of 10 species of bats and 13 ectoparasites. Connectivity was considered low (0.12). The specialization indices for ectoparasites ranged from 0.50 to 1.00, and the value obtained for the network was 0.96, which is high. The observed nesting metric was low (wNODF = 1.47), whereas the modularity was high (wQ = 0.74), indicating that the studied network had a modular topology. All centrality metrics had low values. The observed modularity may have been caused by the evolutionary history of the bats and ectoparasites involved and the high specificity index of the interactions. The low centrality values may be associated with low connectivity and a high degree of specialization. This study provides relevant information on bat–parasite interactions in an urban environment, highlighting the need for further studies to improve our understanding of host–parasite interaction networks.
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3
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Felix GM, Pinheiro RBP, Jorge LR, Lewinsohn TM. A framework for hierarchical compound topologies in species interaction networks. OIKOS 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.09538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Gabriel M. Felix
- Univ. Estadual de Campinas, Depto de Biologia Animal, Inst. de Biologia Campinas Brazil
| | - Rafael B. P. Pinheiro
- Univ. Estadual de Campinas, Depto de Biologia Animal, Inst. de Biologia Campinas Brazil
| | - Leonardo R. Jorge
- Inst. of Entomology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences České Budějovice Czechia
| | - Thomas M. Lewinsohn
- Univ. Estadual de Campinas, Depto de Biologia Animal, Inst. de Biologia Campinas Brazil
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4
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Pinheiro RBP, Felix GMF, Lewinsohn TM. Hierarchical compound topology uncovers complex structure of species interaction networks. J Anim Ecol 2022; 91:2248-2260. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13806] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2022] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Rafael B. P. Pinheiro
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas Campinas SP Brazil
| | - Gabriel M. F. Felix
- Graduate Program in Ecology, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas Campinas SP Brazil
| | - Thomas M. Lewinsohn
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas Campinas SP Brazil
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5
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Toro-Delgado E, Hernández-Roldán J, Dincă V, Vicente JC, Shaw MR, Quicke DL, Vodă R, Albrecht M, Fernández-Triana J, Vidiella B, Valverde S, Dapporto L, Hebert PDN, Talavera G, Vila R. Butterfly–parasitoid–hostplant interactions in Western Palaearctic Hesperiidae: a DNA barcoding reference library. Zool J Linn Soc 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The study of ecological interactions between plants, phytophagous insects and their natural enemies is an essential but challenging component for understanding ecosystem dynamics. Molecular methods such as DNA barcoding can help elucidate these interactions. In this study, we employed DNA barcoding to establish hostplant and parasitoid interactions with hesperiid butterflies, using a complete reference library for Hesperiidae of continental Europe and north-western Africa (53 species, 100% of those recorded) based on 2934 sequences from 38 countries. A total of 233 hostplant and parasitoid interactions are presented, some recovered by DNA barcoding larval remains or parasitoid cocoons. Combining DNA barcode results with other lines of evidence allowed 94% species-level identification for Hesperiidae, but success was lower for parasitoids, in part due to unresolved taxonomy. Potential cases of cryptic diversity, both in Hesperiidae and Microgastrinae, are discussed. We briefly analyse the resulting interaction networks. Future DNA barcoding initiatives in this region should focus attention on north-western Africa and on parasitoids, because in these cases barcode reference libraries and taxonomy are less well developed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Juan Hernández-Roldán
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-UPF) , 03008 Barcelona , Spain
- Departamento de Biología (Zoología), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid , c/ Darwin, 2, ES - 28049 Madrid , Spain
| | - Vlad Dincă
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, PO Box 3000, University of Oulu , 90014 Oulu , Finland
- Research Institute of the University of Bucharest (ICUB), University of Bucharest , Bucharest , Romania
| | | | - Mark R Shaw
- National Museums of Scotland , Edinburgh , UK
| | - Donald Lj Quicke
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Chulalongkorn University , Bangkok , Thailand
| | | | | | | | - Blai Vidiella
- Centre de Recerca Matemàtica , Edifici C , Campus de Bellaterra, Barcelona , Spain
| | - Sergi Valverde
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-UPF) , 03008 Barcelona , Spain
- European Centre for Living Technology , Venice , Italy
| | - Leonardo Dapporto
- Dipartimento di Biologia, University of Florence , 50019 Sesto Fiorentino , Italy
| | - Paul D N Hebert
- Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph , Guelph, ON N1G 2W1 , Canada
| | - Gerard Talavera
- Institut Botànic de Barcelona (IBB), CSIC-Ajuntament de Barcelona , Passeig del Migdia s/n, 08038 Barcelona , Spain
| | - Roger Vila
- Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC-UPF) , 03008 Barcelona , Spain
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Cogni R, Quental TB, Guimarães PR. Ehrlich and Raven escape and radiate coevolution hypothesis at different levels of organization: Past and future perspectives. Evolution 2022; 76:1108-1123. [PMID: 35262199 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2021] [Revised: 02/02/2022] [Accepted: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
The classic paper by Ehrlich and Raven on coevolution will soon be 60 years old. Although they were not the first to develop the idea of coevolution, their thought-provoking paper certainly popularized this idea and inspired several generations of scientists interested in coevolution. Here, we describe some of their main contributions, quantitatively measure the impact of their seminal paper on different fields of research, and discuss how ideas related to their original paper might push the study of coevolution forward. To guide our discussion, we explore their original hypothesis into three research fields that are associated with distinct scales/levels of organization: (1) the genetic mechanisms underlying coevolutionary interactions; (2) the potential association between coevolutionary diversification and the organization of ecological networks; and (3) the micro- and macroevolutionary mechanisms and expected patterns under their hypothesis. By doing so, we discuss potentially overlooked aspects and future directions for the study of coevolutionary dynamics and diversification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodrigo Cogni
- Department of Ecology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, 05508-900, Brazil
| | - Tiago B Quental
- Department of Ecology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, 05508-900, Brazil
| | - Paulo R Guimarães
- Department of Ecology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, 05508-900, Brazil
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7
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Bizzarri L, Baer CS, García-Robledo C. DNA Barcoding Reveals Generalization and Host Overlap in Hummingbird Flower Mites: Implications for the Mating Rendezvous Hypothesis. Am Nat 2022; 199:576-583. [PMID: 35324380 DOI: 10.1086/718474] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
AbstractHummingbird flower mites are assumed to monopolize single host plant species owing to sexual selection for unique mating rendezvous sites. We tested the main assumption of the mating rendezvous hypothesis-extreme host specialization-by reconstructing interactions among tropical hummingbird flower mites and their host plants using DNA barcoding and taxonomic identifications. We collected 10,654 mites from 489 flowers. We extracted DNA from 1,928 mite specimens and amplified the cytochrome c oxidase I (CO1) DNA barcode. We analyzed the network structure to assess the degree of generalization or specialization of mites to their host plants. We recorded 18 species of hummingbird flower mites from three genera (Proctolaelaps, Rhinoseius, and Tropicoseius) interacting with 14 species of plants. We found that generalist mites are common, and congeneric mite species often share host plants. Our results challenge the assumption of strict specialization that supports this system as an example of mating rendezvous evolution.
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8
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Alcantara DMC, Graciolli G, Toma R, Souza CS. Sex-biased parasitism, host mass and mutualistic bat flies: an antagonistic individual-based network of bat-bat fly interactions. Int J Parasitol 2021; 52:217-224. [PMID: 34863803 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2021.10.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2021] [Revised: 10/06/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Individual-based networks provide the building blocks for community-level networks. However, network studies of bats and their parasites have focused only on the species level. Intrapopulation variation may allow certain host individuals to play important roles in the dynamics of the parasites. Therefore, we evaluated how the variation in host sex, body size, ectoparasite abundance and co-occurrence configure individual-based networks of the lesser bulldog bat Noctilio albiventris and bat flies. We expected bat individuals with greater body mass and forearms acting as the core in the network. We also expected males to play a more important role in the network. We sampled a network of N. albiventris bat individuals and their bat flies to describe the structure of an antagonistic individual-based network. We aimed to identify the most relevant bat individuals in the network, focusing on the implications inherent to each of the following approaches: (i) core-periphery organization; (ii) modularity; (iii) species level metrics; and (iv) the main ecological driver of bat individual roles in the network, using niche-based predictors (body mass, forearm and sex). We showed that a network of N. albiventris individuals and their bat flies had low modularity containing a persistent nucleus of individuals and bat flies with well-established interactions. Male individuals with greater body mass played an important role in the network, while for females neither mass nor forearm length were important predictors of their role in the network. Finally, individuals with a high abundance of Paradyschiria parvula played a core role. These results provide an alternative perspective to understand the patterns and mechanisms of interspecific interactions between parasites on the host, as well as sex-biased parasitism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Maximo Correa Alcantara
- Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Fundação Oswaldo Cruz de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
| | - Gustavo Graciolli
- Setor de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil
| | - Ronaldo Toma
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz de Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil
| | - Camila Silveira Souza
- Departamento de Biologia Geral, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Botânica Aplicada, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil
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9
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Urbieta GL, Graciolli G, Vizentin-Bugoni J. Modularity and specialization in bat-fly interaction networks are remarkably consistent across patches within urbanized landscapes and spatial scales. Curr Zool 2021; 67:403-410. [PMID: 34616937 PMCID: PMC8489009 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoaa072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2020] [Accepted: 11/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Patterns of specialization and the structure of interactions between bats and ectoparasitic flies have been studied mostly on non-urban environments and at local scales. Thus, how anthropogenic disturbances influence species interactions and network structure in this system remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated patterns of interaction between Phyllostomidae bats and ectoparasitic Streblidae flies, and variations in network specialization and structure across Cerrado patches within urbanized landscapes in Brazil and between local and regional scales. We found high similarity in the richness and composition of bat and fly species across communities, associated with low turnover of interactions between networks. The high specialization of bat–streblid interactions resulted in little connected and modular networks, with the emergence of modules containing subsets of species that interact exclusively or primarily with each other. Such similarities in species and interaction composition and network structure across communities and scales suggest that bat–fly interactions within Cerrado patches are little affected by the degree of human modification in the surrounding matrix. This remarkable consistency is likely promoted by specific behaviors, the tolerance of Phyllostomidae bats to surrounding urbanized landscapes as well as by the specificity of the streblid–bat interactions shaped over evolutionary time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustavo Lima Urbieta
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas, Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Cidade Jardim Universitário, s/n, Castelo Branco, João Pessoa 58051-900, Brazil
| | - Gustavo Graciolli
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Laboratório de Sistemática, Ecologia e Evolução (LSEE), Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS), Campo Grande 79090-900, Brazil
| | - Jeferson Vizentin-Bugoni
- Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
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10
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Oña L, Giri S, Avermann N, Kreienbaum M, Thormann KM, Kost C. Obligate cross-feeding expands the metabolic niche of bacteria. Nat Ecol Evol 2021; 5:1224-1232. [PMID: 34267366 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01505-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2020] [Accepted: 06/07/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Bacteria frequently engage in obligate metabolic mutualisms with other microorganisms. However, it remains generally unclear how the resulting metabolic dependencies affect the ecological niche space accessible to the whole consortium relative to the niche space available to its constituent individuals. Here we address this issue by systematically cultivating metabolically dependent strains of different bacterial species either individually or as pairwise cocultures in a wide range of carbon sources. Our results show that obligate cross-feeding is significantly more likely to expand the metabolic niche space of interacting bacterial populations than to contract it. Moreover, niche expansion occurred predominantly between two specialist taxa and correlated positively with the phylogenetic distance between interaction partners. Together, our results demonstrate that obligate cross-feeding can significantly expand the ecological niche space of interacting bacterial genotypes, thus explaining the widespread occurrence of this type of ecological interaction in natural microbiomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonardo Oña
- Department of Ecology, School of Biology/Chemistry, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Samir Giri
- Department of Ecology, School of Biology/Chemistry, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany.,Experimental Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany
| | - Neele Avermann
- Department of Ecology, School of Biology/Chemistry, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Maximilian Kreienbaum
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Justus-Liebig-Universität, Gießen, Germany
| | - Kai M Thormann
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Justus-Liebig-Universität, Gießen, Germany
| | - Christian Kost
- Department of Ecology, School of Biology/Chemistry, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany. .,Experimental Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
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11
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Benítez-Malvido J, Rodríguez-Alvarado G, Álvarez-Añorve M, Ávila-Cabadilla LD, del-Val E, Lira-Noriega A, Gregorio-Cipriano R. Antagonistic Interactions Between Fusaria Species and Their Host Plants Are Influenced by Host Taxonomic Distance: A Case Study From Mexico. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.615857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Interactions between cultivated and wild plants with their fungal pathogens have strong ecological, evolutionary and economic implications. Antagonistic interactions, however, have been scantily studied in an applied context by using ecological networks, phylogeny and spatial ecology concurrently. In this study, we describe for the first time, the topological structure of plant-fungi networks involving species of the genus Fusarium and their native and introduced (exotic) cultivated host plants in Mexico. For this, we based our study on a recent database describing the attack on 75 native and introduced plant species, including 35 species of the genus Fusarium. Host plant species varied in their degree of phylogenetical relatedness (Monocots and Dicots) and spatial geographical distribution. Therefore, we also tested whether or not plant-Fusarium networks are phylogenetically structured and highlighted the spatial correlation between pathogens and their host plants across the country. In general, the pathogen-plant network is more specialized and compartmentalized in closely related taxa. Closely related hosts are more likely to share the same pathogenic Fusarium species. Host plants are present in different ecosystems and climates, with regions having more cultivated plant species presenting the highest number of fusaria pathogens. From an economic standpoint, different species of the same taxonomic family may be more susceptible to being attacked by the same species of Fusarium, whereas from an ecological standpoint the movement of pathogens may expose wild and cultivated plants to new diseases. Our study highlights the relevance of interaction intimacy in structuring trophic relationships between plants and fusaria species in native and introduced species. Furthermore, we show that the analytical tools regarding host distribution and phylogeny could permit a rapid assessment of which plant species in a region are most likely to be attacked by a given fusaria.
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12
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Pinto‐Coelho D, Martins M, Guimarães Junior PR. Network analyses reveal the role of large snakes in connecting feeding guilds in a species-rich Amazonian snake community. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:6558-6568. [PMID: 34141240 PMCID: PMC8207408 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2020] [Revised: 03/04/2021] [Accepted: 03/17/2021] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
In ecological communities, interactions between consumers and resources lead to the emergence of ecological networks and a fundamental problem to solve is to understand which factors shape network structure. Empirical and theoretical studies on ecological networks suggest predator body size is a key factor structuring patterns of interaction. Because larger predators consume a wider resource range, including the prey consumed by smaller predators, we hypothesized that variation in body size favors the rise of nestedness. In contrast, if resource consumption requires specific adaptations, predators are expected to consume distinct sets of resources, thus favoring modularity. We investigate these predictions by characterizing the trophic network of a species-rich Amazonian snake community (62 species). Our results revealed an intricate network pattern resulting from larger species feeding on higher diversity of prey and therefore promoting nestedness, whereas snakes with specific lifestyles and feeding on distinct resources, promoting modularity. Species removal simulations indicated that the nested structure is favored mainly by the presence of five species of the family Boidae, which because of their body size and generalist lifestyles connect modules in the network. Our study highlights the particular ways traits affect the structure of interactions among consumers and resources at the community level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Pinto‐Coelho
- Departamento de EcologiaInstituto de BiociênciasUniversidade de São PauloSão PauloBrazil
| | - Marcio Martins
- Departamento de EcologiaInstituto de BiociênciasUniversidade de São PauloSão PauloBrazil
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Abstract
Predicting food web structure in future climates is a pressing goal of ecology. These predictions may be impossible without a solid understanding of the factors that structure current food webs. The most fundamental aspect of food web structure-the relationship between the number of links and species-is still poorly understood. Some species interactions may be physically or physiologically 'forbidden'-like consumption by non-consumer species-with possible consequences for food web structure. We show that accounting for these 'forbidden interactions' constrains the feasible link-species space, in tight agreement with empirical data. Rather than following one particular scaling relationship, food webs are distributed throughout this space according to shared biotic and abiotic features. Our study provides new insights into the long-standing question of which factors determine this fundamental aspect of food web structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean P Gibert
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
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14
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Guimarães PR. The Structure of Ecological Networks Across Levels of Organization. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY EVOLUTION AND SYSTEMATICS 2020. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-012220-120819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Interactions connect the units of ecological systems, forming networks. Individual-based networks characterize variation in niches among individuals within populations. These individual-based networks merge with each other, forming species-based networks and food webs that describe the architecture of ecological communities. Networks at broader spatiotemporal scales portray the structure of ecological interactions across landscapes and over macroevolutionary time. Here, I review the patterns observed in ecological networks across multiple levels of biological organization. A fundamental challenge is to understand the amount of interdependence as we move from individual-based networks to species-based networks and beyond. Despite the uneven distribution of studies, regularities in network structure emerge across scales due to the fundamental architectural patterns shared by complex networks and the interplay between traits and numerical effects. I illustrate the integration of these organizational scales by exploring the consequences of the emergence of highly connected species for network structures across scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paulo R. Guimarães
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 05508-090, Brazil
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15
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Júnior LDF, De Araújo WS, Falcão LAD. Structure of the Interaction Networks Between Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) and Ectoparasite Flies (Diptera: Streblidae, Nycteribiidae) on a Latitudinal Gradient. ACTA CHIROPTEROLOGICA 2020. [DOI: 10.3161/15081109acc2020.22.1.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Leandro De Freitas Júnior
- Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros — Unimontes, Avenida Ruy Braga, S/N, MG, 39401-089, Brazil
| | - Walter S. De Araújo
- Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros — Unimontes, Avenida Ruy Braga, S/N, MG, 39401-089, Brazil
| | - Luiz A. D. Falcão
- Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros — Unimontes, Avenida Ruy Braga, S/N, MG, 39401-089, Brazil
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16
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Mark K, Laanisto L, Bueno CG, Niinemets Ü, Keller C, Scheidegger C. Contrasting co-occurrence patterns of photobiont and cystobasidiomycete yeast associated with common epiphytic lichen species. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2020; 227:1362-1375. [PMID: 32034954 DOI: 10.1111/nph.16475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2019] [Accepted: 02/04/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The popular dual definition of lichen symbiosis is under question with recent findings of additional microbial partners living within the lichen body. Here we compare the distribution and co-occurrence patterns of lichen photobiont and recently described secondary fungus (Cyphobasidiales yeast) to evaluate their dependency on lichen host fungus (mycobiont). We sequenced the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) strands for mycobiont, photobiont, and yeast from six widespread northern hemisphere epiphytic lichen species collected from 25 sites in Switzerland and Estonia. Interaction network analyses and multivariate analyses were conducted on operational taxonomic units based on ITS sequence data. Our study demonstrates the frequent presence of cystobasidiomycete yeasts in studied lichens and shows that they are much less mycobiont-specific than the photobionts. Individuals of different lichen species growing on the same tree trunk consistently hosted the same or closely related mycobiont-specific Trebouxia lineage over geographic distances while the cystobasidiomycete yeasts were unevenly distributed over the study area - contrasting communities were found between Estonia and Switzerland. These results contradict previous findings of high mycobiont species specificity of Cyphobasidiales yeast at large geographic scales. Our results suggest that the yeast might not be as intimately associated with the symbiosis as is the photobiont.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristiina Mark
- Chair of Crop Science and Plant Biology, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Fr. R. Kreutzwaldi 5, Tartu, 51006, Estonia
- Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf, 8903, Switzerland
| | - Lauri Laanisto
- Chair of Crop Science and Plant Biology, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Fr. R. Kreutzwaldi 5, Tartu, 51006, Estonia
| | - C Guillermo Bueno
- Department of Botany, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Lai 40, Tartu, 51005, Estonia
| | - Ülo Niinemets
- Chair of Crop Science and Plant Biology, Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Fr. R. Kreutzwaldi 5, Tartu, 51006, Estonia
- Estonian Academy of Sciences, Kohtu 6, Tallinn, 10130, Estonia
| | - Christine Keller
- Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf, 8903, Switzerland
| | - Christoph Scheidegger
- Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf, 8903, Switzerland
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17
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Coexistence of nestedness and modularity in host-pathogen infection networks. Nat Ecol Evol 2020; 4:568-577. [PMID: 32152533 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-1130-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2019] [Accepted: 01/28/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
The long-term coevolution of hosts and pathogens in their environment forms a complex web of multi-scale interactions. Understanding how environmental heterogeneity affects the structure of host-pathogen networks is a prerequisite for predicting disease dynamics and emergence. Although nestedness is common in ecological networks, and theory suggests that nested ecosystems are less prone to dynamic instability, why nestedness varies in time and space is not fully understood. Many studies have been limited by a focus on single habitats and the absence of a link between spatial variation and structural heterogeneity such as nestedness and modularity. Here we propose a neutral model for the evolution of host-pathogen networks in multiple habitats. In contrast to previous studies, our study proposes that local modularity can coexist with global nestedness, and shows that real ecosystems are found in a continuum between nested-modular and nested networks driven by intraspecific competition. Nestedness depends on neutral mechanisms of community assembly, whereas modularity is contingent on local adaptation and competition. The structural pattern may change spatially and temporally but remains stable over evolutionary timescales. We validate our theoretical predictions with a longitudinal study of plant-virus interactions in a heterogeneous agricultural landscape.
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18
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Morrison BML, Brosi BJ, Dirzo R. Agricultural intensification drives changes in hybrid network robustness by modifying network structure. Ecol Lett 2019; 23:359-369. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.13440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2019] [Revised: 10/02/2019] [Accepted: 11/14/2019] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Berry J. Brosi
- Department of Environmental Sciences Emory University Atlanta 30322 Georgia
| | - Rodolfo Dirzo
- Department of Biology Stanford University Stanford CA 94305 USA
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19
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Ceron K, Oliveira‐Santos LGR, Souza CS, Mesquita DO, Caldas FLS, Araujo AC, Santana DJ. Global patterns in anuran–prey networks: structure mediated by latitude. OIKOS 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.06621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Karoline Ceron
- Programa de Pós Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, Inst. de Biociências, Univ. Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária CEP 79002‐970 Campo Grande Mato Grosso do Sul Brazil
| | | | - Camila S. Souza
- Programa de Pós Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, Inst. de Biociências, Univ. Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária CEP 79002‐970 Campo Grande Mato Grosso do Sul Brazil
- Campus Centro Politécnico, Depto de Botânica, Univ. Federal do Paraná Curitiba Paraná Brazil
| | - Daniel O. Mesquita
- Depto de Sistemática e Ecologia, Univ. Federal da Paraíba, Cidade Universitária João Pessoa Paraíba Brazil
| | | | - Andréa C. Araujo
- Inst. de Biociências, Univ. Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária Campo Grande Mato Grosso do Sul Brazil
| | - Diego J. Santana
- Inst. de Biociências, Univ. Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária Campo Grande Mato Grosso do Sul Brazil
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20
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de Aguiar MAM, Newman EA, Pires MM, Yeakel JD, Boettiger C, Burkle LA, Gravel D, Guimarães PR, O'Donnell JL, Poisot T, Fortin MJ, Hembry DH. Revealing biases in the sampling of ecological interaction networks. PeerJ 2019; 7:e7566. [PMID: 31534845 PMCID: PMC6727833 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.7566] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2019] [Accepted: 07/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The structure of ecological interactions is commonly understood through analyses of interaction networks. However, these analyses may be sensitive to sampling biases with respect to both the interactors (the nodes of the network) and interactions (the links between nodes), because the detectability of species and their interactions is highly heterogeneous. These ecological and statistical issues directly affect ecologists’ abilities to accurately construct ecological networks. However, statistical biases introduced by sampling are difficult to quantify in the absence of full knowledge of the underlying ecological network’s structure. To explore properties of large-scale ecological networks, we developed the software EcoNetGen, which constructs and samples networks with predetermined topologies. These networks may represent a wide variety of communities that vary in size and types of ecological interactions. We sampled these networks with different mathematical sampling designs that correspond to methods used in field observations. The observed networks generated by each sampling process were then analyzed with respect to the number of components, size of components and other network metrics. We show that the sampling effort needed to estimate underlying network properties depends strongly both on the sampling design and on the underlying network topology. In particular, networks with random or scale-free modules require more complete sampling to reveal their structure, compared to networks whose modules are nested or bipartite. Overall, modules with nested structure were the easiest to detect, regardless of the sampling design used. Sampling a network starting with any species that had a high degree (e.g., abundant generalist species) was consistently found to be the most accurate strategy to estimate network structure. Because high-degree species tend to be generalists, abundant in natural communities relative to specialists, and connected to each other, sampling by degree may therefore be common but unintentional in empirical sampling of networks. Conversely, sampling according to module (representing different interaction types or taxa) results in a rather complete view of certain modules, but fails to provide a complete picture of the underlying network. To reduce biases introduced by sampling methods, we recommend that these findings be incorporated into field design considerations for projects aiming to characterize large species interaction networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcus A M de Aguiar
- Instituto de Física "Gleb Wataghin", Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Erica A Newman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Mathias M Pires
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Justin D Yeakel
- School of Natural Sciences, University of California, Merced, CA, USA.,Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA
| | - Carl Boettiger
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Laura A Burkle
- Department of Ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA
| | - Dominique Gravel
- Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada
| | - Paulo R Guimarães
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - James L O'Donnell
- School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Timothée Poisot
- Département de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada.,Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Marie-Josée Fortin
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - David H Hembry
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.,Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
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21
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Pinheiro RBP, Felix GMF, Dormann CF, Mello MAR. A new model explaining the origin of different topologies in interaction networks. Ecology 2019; 100:e02796. [PMID: 31232470 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2796] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2018] [Revised: 03/16/2019] [Accepted: 05/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Nestedness and modularity have been recurrently observed in species interaction networks. Some studies argue that those topologies result from selection against unstable networks, and others propose that they likely emerge from processes driving the interactions between pairs of species. Here we present a model that simulates the evolution of consumer species using resource species following simple rules derived from the integrative hypothesis of specialization (IHS). Without any selection on stability, our model reproduced all commonly observed network topologies. Our simulations demonstrate that resource heterogeneity drives network topology. On the one hand, systems containing only homogeneous resources form generalized nested networks, in which generalist consumers have higher performance on each resource than specialists. On the other hand, heterogeneous systems tend to have a compound topology: modular with internally nested modules, in which generalists that divide their interactions between modules have low performance. Our results demonstrate that all real-world topologies likely emerge through processes driving interactions between pairs of species. Additionally, our simulations suggest that networks containing similar species differ from heterogeneous networks and that modules may not present the topology of entire networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafael B P Pinheiro
- Graduate School in Ecology, Conservation and Wildlife Management, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Gabriel M F Felix
- Graduate School in Ecology, State University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Carsten F Dormann
- Department of Biometry and Environmental System Analysis, University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
| | - Marco A R Mello
- Graduate School in Ecology, Conservation and Wildlife Management, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.,Department of Ecology, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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22
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Hembry DH, Raimundo RLG, Newman EA, Atkinson L, Guo C, Guimarães PR, Gillespie RG. Does biological intimacy shape ecological network structure? A test using a brood pollination mutualism on continental and oceanic islands. J Anim Ecol 2018; 87:1160-1171. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12841] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2016] [Accepted: 03/14/2018] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- David H. Hembry
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management University of California Berkeley California
| | - Rafael L. G. Raimundo
- Departamento de Ecologia Instituto de Biociências Universidade de São Paulo São Paulo SP Brazil
| | - Erica A. Newman
- School of Natural Resources and the Environment University of Arizona Tucson Arizona
| | - Lesje Atkinson
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management University of California Berkeley California
| | - Chang Guo
- Department of Integrative Biology University of California Berkeley California
| | - Paulo R. Guimarães
- Departamento de Ecologia Instituto de Biociências Universidade de São Paulo São Paulo SP Brazil
| | - Rosemary G. Gillespie
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management University of California Berkeley California
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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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de Araújo WS, Daud RD. Contrasting structures of plant-mite networks compounded by phytophagous and predatory mite species. EXPERIMENTAL & APPLIED ACAROLOGY 2018; 74:335-346. [PMID: 29569075 DOI: 10.1007/s10493-018-0250-2] [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: 06/01/2017] [Accepted: 03/15/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Differences in the feeding habits between phytophagous and predatory species can determine distinct ecological interactions between mites and their host plants. Herein, plant-mite networks were constructed using available literature on plant-dwelling mites from Brazilian natural vegetation in order to contrast phytophagous and predatory mite networks. The structural patterns of plant-mite networks were described through network specialization (connectance) and modularity. A total of 187 mite species, 65 host plant species and 646 interactions were recorded in 14 plant-mite networks. Phytophagous networks included 96 mite species, 61 host plants and 277 interactions, whereas predatory networks contained 91 mite species, 54 host plants and 369 interactions. No differences in the species richness of mites and host plants were observed between phytophagous and predatory networks. However, plant-mite networks composed of phytophagous mites showed lower connectance and higher modularity when compared to the predatory mite networks. The present results corroborate the hypothesis that trophic networks are more specialized than commensalistic networks, given that the phytophagous species must deal with plant defenses, in contrast to predatory mites which only inhabit and forage for resources on plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Walter Santos de Araújo
- Postgraduate Program in Animal Biodiversity, Institute of Biological Sciences, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, 74690-900, Brazil.
- Department of General Biology, Center of Biological Sciences and Health, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, Montes Claros, MG, 39401-089, Brazil.
| | - Rodrigo Damasco Daud
- Laboratory of Acarology, Department of Ecology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, GO, 74690-900, Brazil
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25
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Astegiano J, Altermatt F, Massol F. Disentangling the co-structure of multilayer interaction networks: degree distribution and module composition in two-layer bipartite networks. Sci Rep 2017; 7:15465. [PMID: 29133886 PMCID: PMC5684352 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-15811-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2017] [Accepted: 11/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Species establish different interactions (e.g. antagonistic, mutualistic) with multiple species, forming multilayer ecological networks. Disentangling network co-structure in multilayer networks is crucial to predict how biodiversity loss may affect the persistence of multispecies assemblages. Existing methods to analyse multilayer networks often fail to consider network co-structure. We present a new method to evaluate the modular co-structure of multilayer networks through the assessment of species degree co-distribution and network module composition. We focus on modular structure because of its high prevalence among ecological networks. We apply our method to two Lepidoptera-plant networks, one describing caterpillar-plant herbivory interactions and one representing adult Lepidoptera nectaring on flowers, thereby possibly pollinating them. More than 50% of the species established either herbivory or visitation interactions, but not both. These species were over-represented among plants and lepidopterans, and were present in most modules in both networks. Similarity in module composition between networks was high but not different from random expectations. Our method clearly delineates the importance of interpreting multilayer module composition similarity in the light of the constraints imposed by network structure to predict the potential indirect effects of species loss through interconnected modular networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Astegiano
- Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal, FCEFyN, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, CONICET, Argentina.
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul Valéry Montpellier - EPHE, 1919 route de Mende, F-34293, Montpellier, France.
| | - Florian Altermatt
- Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Aquatic Ecology, CH-8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, CH-8057, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - François Massol
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul Valéry Montpellier - EPHE, 1919 route de Mende, F-34293, Montpellier, France
- CNRS, Université de Lille-Sciences et Technologies, UMR 8198 Evo-Eco-Paleo, SPICI group, F-59000, Lille, France
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26
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Interaction type and intimacy structure networks between forest-dwelling organisms and their host trees. Basic Appl Ecol 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2017.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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27
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Galetti M, Moleón M, Jordano P, Pires MM, Guimarães PR, Pape T, Nichols E, Hansen D, Olesen JM, Munk M, de Mattos JS, Schweiger AH, Owen-Smith N, Johnson CN, Marquis RJ, Svenning JC. Ecological and evolutionary legacy of megafauna extinctions. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2017; 93:845-862. [PMID: 28990321 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12374] [Citation(s) in RCA: 104] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2017] [Revised: 08/26/2017] [Accepted: 09/01/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
For hundreds of millions of years, large vertebrates (megafauna) have inhabited most of the ecosystems on our planet. During the late Quaternary, notably during the Late Pleistocene and the early Holocene, Earth experienced a rapid extinction of large, terrestrial vertebrates. While much attention has been paid to understanding the causes of this massive megafauna extinction, less attention has been given to understanding the impacts of loss of megafauna on other organisms with whom they interacted. In this review, we discuss how the loss of megafauna disrupted and reshaped ecological interactions, and explore the ecological consequences of the ongoing decline of large vertebrates. Numerous late Quaternary extinct species of predators, parasites, commensals and mutualistic partners were associated with megafauna and were probably lost due to their strict dependence upon them (co-extinctions). Moreover, many extant species have megafauna-adapted traits that provided evolutionary benefits under past megafauna-rich conditions, but are now of no or limited use (anachronisms). Morphological evolution and behavioural changes allowed some of these species partially to overcome the absence of megafauna. Although the extinction of megafauna led to a number of co-extinction events, several species that likely co-evolved with megafauna established new interactions with humans and their domestic animals. Species that were highly specialized in interactions with megafauna, such as large predators, specialized parasites, and large commensalists (e.g. scavengers, dung beetles), and could not adapt to new hosts or prey were more likely to die out. Partners that were less megafauna dependent persisted because of behavioural plasticity or by shifting their dependency to humans via domestication, facilitation or pathogen spill-over, or through interactions with domestic megafauna. We argue that the ongoing extinction of the extant megafauna in the Anthropocene will catalyse another wave of co-extinctions due to the enormous diversity of key ecological interactions and functional roles provided by the megafauna.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mauro Galetti
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), 13506-900, Rio Claro, SP Brazil.,Section for Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Marcos Moleón
- Estación Biológica de Doñana, EBD-SCIC, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Sevilla, Spain.,Departamento de Zoología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Pedro Jordano
- Estación Biológica de Doñana, EBD-SCIC, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Mathias M Pires
- Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP Brazil
| | - Paulo R Guimarães
- Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP Brazil
| | - Thomas Pape
- Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Dennis Hansen
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Jens M Olesen
- Section for Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Michael Munk
- Section for Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Jacqueline S de Mattos
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), 13506-900, Rio Claro, SP Brazil
| | - Andreas H Schweiger
- Section for Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Norman Owen-Smith
- Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits 2050, South Africa
| | - Christopher N Johnson
- School of Biological Sciences & Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Robert J Marquis
- Department of Biology and the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, U.S.A
| | - Jens-Christian Svenning
- Section for Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
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28
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29
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Andreazzi CS, Thompson JN, Guimarães PR. Network Structure and Selection Asymmetry Drive Coevolution in Species-Rich Antagonistic Interactions. Am Nat 2017; 190:99-115. [DOI: 10.1086/692110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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30
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Sebastián‐González E, Pires MM, Donatti CI, Guimarães PR, Dirzo R. Species traits and interaction rules shape a species-rich seed-dispersal interaction network. Ecol Evol 2017; 7:4496-4506. [PMID: 28649359 PMCID: PMC5478084 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.2865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2016] [Revised: 01/30/2017] [Accepted: 02/07/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Species phenotypic traits affect the interaction patterns and the organization of seed-dispersal interaction networks. Understanding the relationship between species characteristics and network structure help us understand the assembly of natural communities and how communities function. Here, we examine how species traits may affect the rules leading to patterns of interaction among plants and fruit-eating vertebrates. We study a species-rich seed-dispersal system using a model selection approach to examine whether the rules underlying network structure are driven by constraints in fruit resource exploitation, by preferential consumption of fruits by the frugivores, or by a combination of both. We performed analyses for the whole system and for bird and mammal assemblages separately, and identified the animal and plant characteristics shaping interaction rules. The structure of the analyzed interaction network was better explained by constraints in resource exploitation in the case of birds and by preferential consumption of fruits with specific traits for mammals. These contrasting results when looking at bird-plant and mammal-plant interactions suggest that the same type of interaction is organized by different processes depending on the assemblage we focus on. Size-related restrictions of the interacting species (both for mammals and birds) were the most important factors driving the interaction rules. Our results suggest that the structure of seed-dispersal interaction networks can be explained using species traits and interaction rules related to simple ecological mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esther Sebastián‐González
- Department of BiologyStanford UniversityStanfordCAUSA
- Departamento de EcologiaUniversidade de São PauloSão PauloBrazil
- Present address: Department of Applied BiologyMiguel Hernández UniversityElcheSpain
| | - Mathias M. Pires
- Departamento de EcologiaUniversidade de São PauloSão PauloBrazil
| | - Camila I. Donatti
- Department of BiologyStanford UniversityStanfordCAUSA
- The Betty and Gordon Moore Center for ScienceConservation InternationalArlingtonVAUSA
| | | | - Rodolfo Dirzo
- Department of BiologyStanford UniversityStanfordCAUSA
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Pires MM, Koch PL, Fariña RA, de Aguiar MAM, dos Reis SF, Guimarães PR. Pleistocene megafaunal interaction networks became more vulnerable after human arrival. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 282:rspb.2015.1367. [PMID: 26336175 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The end of the Pleistocene was marked by the extinction of almost all large land mammals worldwide except in Africa. Although the debate on Pleistocene extinctions has focused on the roles of climate change and humans, the impact of perturbations depends on properties of ecological communities, such as species composition and the organization of ecological interactions. Here, we combined palaeoecological and ecological data, food-web models and community stability analysis to investigate if differences between Pleistocene and modern mammalian assemblages help us understand why the megafauna died out in the Americas while persisting in Africa. We show Pleistocene and modern assemblages share similar network topology, but differences in richness and body size distributions made Pleistocene communities significantly more vulnerable to the effects of human arrival. The structural changes promoted by humans in Pleistocene networks would have increased the likelihood of unstable dynamics, which may favour extinction cascades in communities facing extrinsic perturbations. Our findings suggest that the basic aspects of the organization of ecological communities may have played an important role in major extinction events in the past. Knowledge of community-level properties and their consequences to dynamics may be critical to understand past and future extinctions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathias M Pires
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-090, Brazil
| | - Paul L Koch
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - Richard A Fariña
- Sección Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 11400, Uruguay
| | - Marcus A M de Aguiar
- Departamento de Física da Matéria Condensada, Instituto de Física 'Gleb Wataghin', 13083-862 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Sérgio F dos Reis
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 13083-862 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Paulo R Guimarães
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-090, Brazil
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Lemos-Costa P, Pires MM, Araújo MS, de Aguiar MAM, Guimarães PR. Network analyses support the role of prey preferences in shaping resource use patterns within five animal populations. OIKOS 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.03006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Paula Lemos-Costa
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia, Inst. de Biocências; Univ. de São Paulo; São Paulo Brasil
- Depto de Física da Matéria Condensada, Inst. de Física “Gleb Wataghin”; Univ. Estadual de Campinas; Campinas Brasil
| | - Mathias M. Pires
- Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia, Inst. de Biocências; Univ. de São Paulo; São Paulo Brasil
- Depto de Ecologia, Inst. de Biociências; Univ. de São Paulo; São Paulo Brasil
| | - Márcio S. Araújo
- Depto de Ecologia; Univ. Estadual “Julio de Mesquita Filho”; Rio Claro Brasil
| | - Marcus A. M. de Aguiar
- Depto de Física da Matéria Condensada, Inst. de Física “Gleb Wataghin”; Univ. Estadual de Campinas; Campinas Brasil
| | - Paulo R. Guimarães
- Depto de Ecologia, Inst. de Biociências; Univ. de São Paulo; São Paulo Brasil
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Campião KM, Ribas ACDA, Morais DH, da Silva RJ, Tavares LER. How Many Parasites Species a Frog Might Have? Determinants of Parasite Diversity in South American Anurans. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0140577. [PMID: 26473593 PMCID: PMC4608826 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2015] [Accepted: 09/26/2015] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
There is an increasing interest in unveiling the dynamics of parasite infection. Understanding the interaction patterns, and determinants of host-parasite association contributes to filling knowledge gaps in both community and disease ecology. Despite being targeted as a relevant group for conservation efforts, determinants of the association of amphibians and their parasites in broad scales are poorly understood. Here we describe parasite biodiversity in South American amphibians, testing the influence of host body size and geographic range in helminth parasites species richness (PSR). We also test whether parasite diversity is related to hosts’ phylogenetic diversity. Results showed that nematodes are the most common anuran parasites. Host-parasite network has a nested pattern, with specialist helminth taxa generally associated with hosts that harbour the richest parasite faunas. Host size is positively correlated with helminth fauna richness, but we found no support for the association of host geographic range and PSR. These results remained consistent after correcting for uneven study effort and hosts’ phylogenic correlation. However, we found no association between host and parasite diversity, indicating that more diversified anuran clades not necessarily support higher parasite diversity. Overall, considering both the structure and the determinants of PRS in anurans, we conclude that specialist parasites are more likely to be associated with large anurans, which are the ones harbouring higher PSR, and that the lack of association of PSR with hosts’ clade diversification suggests it is strongly influenced by ecological and contemporary constrains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karla Magalhães Campião
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, Universidade Federal Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brasil
- * E-mail:
| | | | - Drausio Honorio Morais
- UNESP—Universidade Estadual Paulista, Campus de Botucatu, Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Parasitologia, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Reinaldo José da Silva
- UNESP—Universidade Estadual Paulista, Campus de Botucatu, Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Parasitologia, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Luiz Eduardo Roland Tavares
- Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil
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Pires MM, Cantor M, Guimarães PR, de Aguiar MAM, Dos Reis SF, Coltri PP. The network organization of protein interactions in the spliceosome is reproduced by the simple rules of food-web models. Sci Rep 2015; 5:14865. [PMID: 26443080 PMCID: PMC4595644 DOI: 10.1038/srep14865] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2015] [Accepted: 09/09/2015] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The network structure of biological systems provides information on the underlying processes shaping their organization and dynamics. Here we examined the structure of the network depicting protein interactions within the spliceosome, the macromolecular complex responsible for splicing in eukaryotic cells. We show the interactions of less connected spliceosome proteins are nested subsets of the connections of the highly connected proteins. At the same time, the network has a modular structure with groups of proteins sharing similar interaction patterns. We then investigated the role of affinity and specificity in shaping the spliceosome network by adapting a probabilistic model originally designed to reproduce food webs. This food-web model was as successful in reproducing the structure of protein interactions as it is in reproducing interactions among species. The good performance of the model suggests affinity and specificity, partially determined by protein size and the timing of association to the complex, may be determining network structure. Moreover, because network models allow building ensembles of realistic networks while encompassing uncertainty they can be useful to examine the dynamics and vulnerability of intracelullar processes. Unraveling the mechanisms organizing the spliceosome interactions is important to characterize the role of individual proteins on splicing catalysis and regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathias M Pires
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, 05508-090, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Maurício Cantor
- Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4J1, Canada
| | - Paulo R Guimarães
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, 05508-090, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Marcus A M de Aguiar
- Departamento de Física da Matéria Condensada, Instituto de Física 'Gleb Wataghin', 13083-859, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Sérgio F Dos Reis
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, 13083-970, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil
| | - Patricia P Coltri
- Departamento de Biologia Celular e do Desenvolvimento, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, 05508-000, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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Rodríguez-Rodríguez MC, Jordano P, Valido A. Hotspots of damage by antagonists shape the spatial structure of plant-pollinator interactions. Ecology 2015; 96:2181-91. [PMID: 26405743 DOI: 10.1890/14-2467.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
The balance between mutualistic and antagonistic plant-animal interactions and their spatial variation results in a highly dynamic mosaic of reproductive success within plant populations. Yet, the ecological drivers of this small-scale heterogeneity of interaction patterns and their outcomes remain virtually unexplored. We analyzed spatial structure in the frequency and intensity of interactions that vertebrate pollinators (birds and lizards) and invertebrate antagonists (florivores, nectar larcenists, and seed predators) had when interacting with the insular plant Isoplexis canariensis, and their effect on plant fitness. Spatially autocorrelated variation in plant reproductive success (fruit and viable seed set) emerged from the combined action of mutualists and antagonists, rather than reflecting the spatial pattern of any specific animal group. However, the influence of antagonists on plant fitness was stronger primarily due to the florivores' action on earlier reproductive stages, consuming and damaging floral structures before the arrival of pollinators. Our results indicate that the early action of antagonists creates hotspots of increased plant damage, where the effects of later acting mutualists are not translated into increased reproductive benefits. We foresee the potential for antagonists to shape the intra-population mosaics of plant fitness in situations where antagonists outnumber mutualists, when their interactions occur before those of mutualists, and when mutualists can detect and avoid damaged plants while foraging. Severely damaged plants in antagonistic hotspots might be excluded from the mating network and render a limited production of viable seeds, reducing both the growth rate of the plant population and the effective population size.
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Rillig MC, Antonovics J, Caruso T, Lehmann A, Powell JR, Veresoglou SD, Verbruggen E. Interchange of entire communities: microbial community coalescence. Trends Ecol Evol 2015; 30:470-6. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2015.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 98] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2015] [Revised: 06/03/2015] [Accepted: 06/04/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Benítez-Malvido J, Dáttilo W. Interaction intimacy of pathogens and herbivores with their host plants influences the topological structure of ecological networks in different ways. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2015; 102:512-519. [PMID: 25878085 DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1400303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2014] [Accepted: 03/04/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED • PREMISE OF THE STUDY Over the past two decades an interest in the role that plant-animal mutualistic networks play in the organization and dynamic of biodiversity has steadily risen. Despite the ecological, evolutionary, and economic importance of plant-herbivore and plant-pathogen antagonistic relationships, however, few studies have examined these interactions in an ecological network framework.• METHODS We describe for the first time the topological structure of multitrophic networks involving congeneric tropical plant species of the genus Heliconia (Heliconiaceae, Zingiberales) and their herbivores and pathogens in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. We based our study on the available literature describing the organisms (e.g., insects, mites, fungi, and bacteria) that attack 24 different species, hybrids, and cultivated varieties of Heliconia.• KEY RESULTS In general, pathogen- and herbivore-Heliconia networks differed in their topological structure (more modular vs. more nested, respectively): pathogen-Heliconia networks were more specialized and compartmentalized than herbivore-Heliconia networks. High modularity was likely due to the high intimacy that pathogens have with their host plants as compared with the more generalized feeding modes and behavior of herbivores. Some clusters clearly reflected the clustering of closely related cultivated varieties of Heliconia sharing the same pathogens.• CONCLUSIONS From a commercial standpoint, different varieties of the same Heliconia species may be more susceptible to being attacked by the same species of pathogens. In summary, our study highlights the importance of interaction intimacy in structuring trophic relationships between plants and pathogens in the tropics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julieta Benítez-Malvido
- Centro de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro No. 8701, Ex Hacienda de San José de la Huerta 58190 Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
| | - Wesley Dáttilo
- Instituto de Neuroetología, Universidad Veracruzana, Av. Dr. Luis Castelazo s/n 91190 Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico
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Toju H, Guimarães PR, Olesen JM, Thompson JN. Assembly of complex plant-fungus networks. Nat Commun 2014; 5:5273. [PMID: 25327887 PMCID: PMC4218951 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6273] [Citation(s) in RCA: 119] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2014] [Accepted: 09/16/2014] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Species in ecological communities build complex webs of interaction. Although revealing the architecture of these networks is fundamental to understanding ecological and evolutionary dynamics in nature, it has been difficult to characterize the structure of most species-rich ecological systems. By overcoming this limitation through next-generation sequencing technology, we herein uncover the network architecture of below-ground plant-fungus symbioses, which are ubiquitous to terrestrial ecosystems. The examined symbiotic network of a temperate forest in Japan includes 33 plant species and 387 functionally and phylogenetically diverse fungal taxa, and the overall network architecture differs fundamentally from that of other ecological networks. In contrast to results for other ecological networks and theoretical predictions for symbiotic networks, the plant-fungus network shows moderate or relatively low levels of interaction specialization and modularity and an unusual pattern of 'nested' network architecture. These results suggest that species-rich ecological networks are more architecturally diverse than previously recognized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hirokazu Toju
- Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| | - Paulo R. Guimarães
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-900, Brazil
| | - Jens M. Olesen
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - John N. Thompson
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA
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Yeakel JD, Guimarães PR, Bocherens H, Koch PL. The impact of climate change on the structure of Pleistocene food webs across the mammoth steppe. Proc Biol Sci 2013; 280:20130239. [PMID: 23658198 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.0239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Species interactions form food webs, impacting community structure and, potentially, ecological dynamics. It is likely that global climatic perturbations that occur over long periods of time have a significant influence on species interaction patterns. Here, we integrate stable isotope analysis and network theory to reconstruct patterns of trophic interactions for six independent mammalian communities that inhabited mammoth steppe environments spanning western Europe to eastern Alaska (Beringia) during the Late Pleistocene. We use a Bayesian mixing model to quantify the contribution of prey to the diets of local predators, and assess how the structure of trophic interactions changed across space and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), a global climatic event that severely impacted mammoth steppe communities. We find that large felids had diets that were more constrained than those of co-occurring predators, and largely influenced by an increase in Rangifer abundance after the LGM. Moreover, the structural organization of Beringian and European communities strongly differed: compared with Europe, species interactions in Beringian communities before--and possibly after--the LGM were highly modular. We suggest that this difference in modularity may have been driven by the geographical insularity of Beringian communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin D Yeakel
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
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Habitat Isolation Reduces the Temporal Stability of Island Ecosystems in the Face of Flood Disturbance. ADV ECOL RES 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-417199-2.00004-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register]
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