Linking species functional roles to their network roles

Type of content
Journal Article
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
University of Canterbury. Biological Sciences
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
Date
2016
Authors
Coux, C.
Rader, R.
Bartomeus, I.
Tylianakis, J.M.
Abstract

Species roles in ecological networks combine to generate their architecture, which contributes to their stability. Species trait diversity also affects ecosystem functioning and resilience, yet it remains unknown whether species’ contributions to functional diversity relate to their network roles. Here we use 21 empirical pollen transport networks to characterise this relationship. We found that, apart from a few abundant species, pollinators with original traits either had few interaction partners or interacted most frequently with a subset of these partners. This suggests that narrowing of interactions to a subset of the plant community accompanies pollinator niche specialisation, congruent with our hypothesised trade-off between having unique traits vs. being able to interact with many mutualist partners. Conversely, these effects were not detected in plants, potentially because key aspects of their flowering traits are conserved at a family level. Relating functional and network roles can provide further insight into mechanisms underlying ecosystem functioning.

Description
Citation
Coux, C., Rader, R., Bartomeus, I., Tylianakis, J.M. (2016) Linking species functional roles to their network roles. Ecology Letters, 19, pp. 762-770.
Keywords
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Field of Research::06 - Biological Sciences::0607 - Plant Biology::060705 - Plant Physiology
Field of Research::06 - Biological Sciences::0607 - Plant Biology::060703 - Plant Developmental and Reproductive Biology
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