Invasive species modulate the structure and stability of a multilayer mutualistic network

Vitali, Agustín; Ruiz-Suarez, Sofia; Vázquez, Diego P.; Schleuning, Matthias; Rodríguez‐Cabal, Mariano A.; Sasal, Yamila; Pilosof, Shai

doi:10.1098/rspb.2023.0132

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…We encourage future studies to investigate how this relationship operates across space, for instance using spatial models of robustness. Fourth, community properties emerge from the interplay between different types of ecological interactions [48][49][50]. Therefore, future studies could improve understanding of biogeographical patterns by considering the spatial distribution of multitrophic communities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local and regional processes drive distance decay in structure in a spatial multilayer plant-pollinator network

Vitali,

Goldstein,

Markfeld

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Understanding spatial variation in species distribution and community structure is at the core of biogeography and community ecology. Nevertheless, the effect of distance on metacommunity structure remains little studied. We use plant-pollinator network data from the Canary Islands to examine how plant-pollinator community structure changes across geographical distances at a regional scale and disentangle its underlying local and regional processes. We represent plant-pollinator communities as a metacommunity using a multilayer network. We quantified multilayer modularity to test for distance decay in structure across space. In multilayer modularity, the same species can belong to different modules in different layers, and modules can span layers. This enabled quantifying how similarity in module composition varied with distance between locations. We developed four null models, each controlling for a separate component of the multilayer network, to disentangle the role of species turnover, interaction rewiring, and local factors in driving distance decay in module similarity. We found a pattern of distance decay in structure, indicating that locations tended to share fewer modules with increasing distance. Species turnover (but not interaction rewiring) was the primary regional process triggering distance decay in structure. Local factors also played an essential role in determining the structure similarity of communities at a regional scale. These local differences could, in turn, influence regional processes occurring between locations. Finally, the extent to which species shared partners across locations did not affect distance decay in structure. Our work highlights the interplay between local and regional processes underlying biogeographic patterns. Our methodology provides a general framework for linking communities in space and testing different hypotheses regarding the factors generating spatial structure.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local and regional processes drive distance decay in structure in a spatial multilayer plant-pollinator network

Vitali,

Goldstein,

Markfeld

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…The white blocks are 0-diagonal blocks where interactions cannot occur due to the bipartite structure of the layers. The blue cells are the interlayer links between plants (e.g., [22]).…”

Section: (C) (B) (A)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Encoding processes within and between layers in a single mathematical/computational object provides a more realistic representation of complex ecological systems. Hence, in the past six years, there has been a surge in the study of EMLNs, which have proven highly insightful for understanding the structure and dynamics of ecological communities [10,15,[20][21][22] On the technical side, however, EMLNs are challenging to use. An EMLN object can contain many kinds of data because the identities and attributes of nodes and links can vary between layers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practical guidelines and the EMLN R package for handling ecological multilayer networks

Frydman,

Freilikhman,

Talpaz

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Network analysis provides a powerful framework to study the complexity underlying the structure, dynamics, stability, and function of ecological systems. By now, analysing single-layered networks is a common practice with clear guidelines and well-established computational tools. Nevertheless, ecological communities are multilayered because they vary over space and time and contain multiple types of interactions. In recent years, the analysis of ecological multilayer networks (EMLNs) has allowed researchers to include such multilayered complexity. However, there is a paucity of practical guidelines and standardised tools to handle EMLN data, even before downstream analysis. In this article, we accomplish three objectives: (1) We provide practical guidelines for handling EMLN data. (2) We developed the EMLN R package to standardise the workflow of creating, storing, and working with EMLN objects. The package also enables conversion between multiple formats for downstream analysis with other standard packages. (3) We provide EMLN data sets for research and training purposes. A dedicated website with explanations, detailed examples, and code accompanies our paper. This website is a gateway for novice and experienced network ecologists who want to include EMLNs in their research. By simplifying the analysis of multilayer networks and promoting standardised approaches we facilitate the analysis of EMLNs. This paves the road towards gaining deeper insights into functioning and resilience of natural ecosystems.

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“…1C). Interlayer links have been applied multiple times in ecological multilayer networks and are the major advantage of using multilayer networks [25,[46][47][48][49]. We calculated the value of an interlayer link w αβ i connecting an ASV i to itself between layers α and β as the UniFrac similarity between the partners of i.…”

Section: Construction Of a Meta-co-occurrence Multilayer Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scale-dependent signatures of microbial co-occurrence revealed via multilayer network analysis

Galai,

Arbel,

Klass

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The composition of microbial communities underlies many ecosystem functions. Co-occurrence networks offer insights into the complexity of microbial interactions, particularly in highly diverse environments where direct observation is challenging. However, identifying the scale at which local and non-local processes structure co-occurrence networks remains challenging because it requires simultaneously analyzing network structure within and between local networks. Using the rumen microbiome of 1,012 cows in seven European farms, we built a multilayer network in which microbes (nodes) are linked within and between farms (layers), effectively creating a meta-co-occurrence network. At the local scale, we tested for a non-random transitive signature (the tendency of a microbe to close triangles) because transitivity indicates environmental similarities or interaction dependence. At the non-local scale, we tested for partner fidelity because if microbes tend to conserve their interaction partners more than expected by chance, co-occurrence is not determined locally. We further tested at which scale (farm vs. regional) the partition of microbes to modules of densely co-occurring microbes was prominent. Via comparison to shuffled networks, we discovered that, although core microbes appeared across the entire system, there were non-random signatures of local and non-local co-occurrence patterns. Microbes had transitive interactions and tended to conserved partners across farms. Microbes in four farms were clustered separately (each farm in a module), providing a signature for a strong but not complete influence of local processes. The genetic structure of cow populations partly explains modularity, indicating that environmental filtering is an important force shaping co-occurrence. Our results provide evidence for the scale at which interconnected co-occurrence networks are structured using a clear set of hypotheses. Our developed approach can also be used to explore local and non-local signatures in species interaction metanetworks or metacommunities.

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Invasive species modulate the structure and stability of a multilayer mutualistic network

Cited by 10 publications

References 71 publications

Local and regional processes drive distance decay in structure in a spatial multilayer plant-pollinator network

Local and regional processes drive distance decay in structure in a spatial multilayer plant-pollinator network

Practical guidelines and the EMLN R package for handling ecological multilayer networks

Scale-dependent signatures of microbial co-occurrence revealed via multilayer network analysis

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