Ecological mechanisms explaining interactions within plant–hummingbird networks: morphological matching increases towards lower latitudes

Sonne, Jesper; Vizentin‐Bugoni, Jeferson; Maruyama, Pietro Kiyoshi; Araujo, Andréa Cardoso; Chávez-González, Edgar; Coelho, Aline G.; Cotton, Peter A.; Marín-Gómez, Oscar Humberto; Lara, Carlos; Lasprilla, Liliana Rosero; Machado, Caio Graco; Maglianesi, María Alejandra; Malucelli, Tiago S.; González, Ana M. Martín; Oliveira, Genilda M.; Oliveira, Paulo Eugênio; Ortiz‐Pulido, Raúl; Rocca, Márcia A.; Rodrigues, Licléia C.; Sazima, Iván; Simmons, Benno I.; Tinoco, Boris A.; Varassin, Isabela Galarda; Vasconcelos, Marcelo Ferreira de; O’Hara, Bob; Schleuning, Matthias; Rahbek, Carsten; Sazima, Marlies; Dalsgaard, Bo

doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.2873

Cited by 54 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…However, the result that empirical motif distributions are closer to those produced by an abundance model than a morphological matching model is surprising. Recent studies have found that the influence of niche‐based processes varies spatially (Sonne et al., 2020b) and that abundance may play a more important role than previously recognised (Simmons, Vizentin‐Bugoni, et al, 2019), which could explain our findings. Alternatively, our result could reflect the influence of different processes on different hierarchies of community structure.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Niche and neutral processes leave distinct structural imprints on indirect interactions in mutualistic networks

et al. 2020

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Indirect interactions are central to ecological and evolutionary dynamics in pollination communities, yet we have little understanding about the processes determining patterns of indirect interactions, such as those between pollinators through shared flowering plants. Instead, research has concentrated on the processes responsible for direct interactions and whole‐network structures. This is partly due to a lack of appropriate tools for characterising indirect interaction structures, because traditional network metrics discard much of this information. The recent development of tools for counting motifs (subnetworks depicting interactions between a small number of species) in bipartite networks enables detailed analysis of indirect interaction patterns. Here we generate plant–hummingbird pollination networks based on three major assembly processes—neutral effects (species interacting in proportion to abundance), morphological matching and phenological overlap—and evaluate the motifs associated with each one. We find that different processes produce networks with significantly different patterns of indirect interactions. Neutral effects tend to produce densely connected motifs, with short indirect interaction chains, and motifs where many specialists interact indirectly through a single generalist. Conversely, niche‐based processes (morphology and phenology) produced motifs with a core of interacting generalists, supported by peripheral specialists. These results have important implications for understanding the processes determining indirect interaction structures. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Niche and neutral processes leave distinct structural imprints on indirect interactions in mutualistic networks

et al. 2020

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“…Overall, these results suggest a very mixed picture about how closely interaction frequency and abundance are related. These mixed findings are corroborated by our analysis of a plant-hummingbird network that includes independent abundance data [74][75][76] (S5 Analysis). We found that the relationship between observed interaction frequency and interaction probabilities determined by either empirical or idealised abundance distributions were only very weakly correlated.…”

Section: Interaction Propertiessupporting

confidence: 62%

Estimating the risk of species interaction loss in mutualistic communities

et al. 2020

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Interactions between species generate the functions on which ecosystems and humans depend. However, we lack an understanding of the risk that interaction loss poses to ecological communities. Here, we quantify the risk of interaction loss for 4,330 species interactions from 41 empirical pollination and seed dispersal networks across 6 continents. We estimate risk as a function of interaction vulnerability to extinction (likelihood of loss) and contribution to network feasibility, a measure of how much an interaction helps a community tolerate environmental perturbations. Remarkably, we find that more vulnerable interactions have higher contributions to network feasibility. Furthermore, interactions tend to have more similar vulnerability and contribution to feasibility across networks than expected by chance, suggesting that vulnerability and feasibility contribution may be intrinsic properties of interactions, rather than only a function of ecological context. These results may provide a starting point for prioritising interactions for conservation in species interaction networks in the future.

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“…trait matching model ; Sazatornil et al ., 2016). Both processes may generate subsets of interacting species (modules) and increase network modularity (Maruyama et al ., 2014; Sonne et al ., 2020). Furthermore, species abundances may also play a major role in defining interactions as abundant species have higher chances to find multiple partners, as well as to interact at higher frequencies, than rarer species – a process called neutrality (Vázquez et al ., 2009a; Vizentin‐Bugoni et al ., 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological matching and phenological overlap promote niche partitioning and shape a mutualistic plant–hawkmoth network

Lautenschleger

Vizentin‐Bugoni

Cavalheiro

et al. 2020

Ecological Entomology

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1. Species interact with one another in communities forming complex interaction networks which are shaped by multiple non-exclusive processes. Although plant-hawkmoth interactions have been studied for over a century, how processes underlying species' specialisation influence community-level patterns of niche partitioning and contribute to the emergence of network structures remains poorly investigated. 2. This study described a mutualistic plant-hawkmoth network sampled for 18 consecutive months in Southern Brazil and tested (i) whether it presents modular and/or nested structures and (ii) what drivers (morphologies, phenologies, or abundances) are more important in defining interaction intensities. 3. Network structure was modular, presenting three distinct modules, and had a nestedness value lower than null model expectations. Interaction frequencies were primarily defined by morphological matching and phenological overlap but were not importantly influenced by species' relative abundances. Module composition reinforced the importance of morphological matching, as well as barriers imposed by morphology, and also suggested that modularity may be a consequence of other factors, such as timing between hawkmoth flight period and plants' anthesis. 4. This study's data contribute to filling the shortage of plant-centred interaction networks involving hawkmoths and plants and reveal that modularity emerges likely as a consequence of processes thought to shape niche partitioning in this system, as well as in other pollination networks. The findings of this study are in agreement with the neutral-niche continuum model, which predicts that, in systems with high trait functional variation (morphologies and phenologies in this case), niche-based processes such as trait matching must be relatively more important than abundances as drivers of interspecific interactions.

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Ecological mechanisms explaining interactions within plant–hummingbird networks: morphological matching increases towards lower latitudes

Cited by 54 publications

References 58 publications

Niche and neutral processes leave distinct structural imprints on indirect interactions in mutualistic networks

Niche and neutral processes leave distinct structural imprints on indirect interactions in mutualistic networks

Estimating the risk of species interaction loss in mutualistic communities

Morphological matching and phenological overlap promote niche partitioning and shape a mutualistic plant–hawkmoth network

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