Species traits and abundance influence the organization of liana–tree antagonistic interaction

Abstract

The interaction among species can be influenced by neutral processes, in which more abundant species have high effect on the structure of interaction, or can be influenced by trait matching. Despite both variables (abundance and species traits) influencing the interaction of species in mutualistic networks, few studies showed their importance in antagonistic networks. Here, we posed the question: what are the main predictors of the liana-tree interactions: species abundance, biological traits or both? In a savanna woodland fragment in south-eastern Brazil, we sampled lianas and trees in 1 ha, where we recorded the abundance, maximum height and bark roughness of tree species, as well as abundance, maximum diameter and climbing system of liana species. For each species, we calculated their contribution to nestedness (n i ), which is a measure of network structure, and performed simple linear regressions between n i and abundance and species traits. Abundant species contribute more to n i than rare species, indicating that neutral processes affect interactions between lianas and trees, probably because lianas are opportunistic and climb trees in their neighbourhood. The only trait related to n i was tree height, which can indicate that light availability can have a considerable role on network structure between both growth forms. Therefore, the importance of species abundance and tree height can be related to opportunism of lianas on climbing the most suitable tree in their neighbourhood.

Edge disturbance shapes liana diversity and abundance but not liana-tree interaction network patterns in moist semi-deciduous forests, Ghana

“…Overall, the findings on liana-tree network structure reported in the current and previous studies show that there is no universal pattern in the structure of liana-tree interactions. The patterns obtained may be dependent on the network complexity, and species traits and abundance, which are known to influence the organisation of liana-tree interactions (Sfair et al 2018(Sfair et al , 2010. The existence of high modular structure in the various networks may increase their stability and robustness by limiting diffusion of perturbations through network (Thebault & Fontaine, 2010).…”

“…Though the nature of liana-tree interaction is still a subject of debate, it tends to be antagonistic, in view of the fact that lianas are not only structural parasites of trees (Tang et al, 2012), but also compete intensely with trees for resources (Sfair et al, 2018). Species of antagonistic networks often evolve high specialisation in order to survive the antagonism of the interactions (Maliet et al, 2020).…”

Morphometric traits as drivers for module structures and species specialization: a study about the hermit crab–gastropod networks from three different regions on the Brazilian coast

“…Structural properties of interaction networks, such as nestedness and modularity, are influenced by species abundance, species traits and resource properties which has been studied in various types of interactions (Ballarin et al., 2019; Calatayud et al., 2017; Chamberlain & Holland, 2009; Donatti et al., 2011; González‐Castro et al., 2015; Sazatornil et al., 2016; Sfair et al., 2018; Stang et al., 2006; Tur et al., 2015; Vizentin‐Bugoni et al., 2016). However, the factors underlying the structural properties of the relationship between hermit crabs and gastropod–shells that was recently evaluated through the network approach remain unvisited (see Rodrigues et al., 2020 and da Silva et al., 2020).…”

Environmental filtering and spatial processes shape the beta diversity of liana communities in a valley savanna in southwest China

“…Liana studies in savannas have so far mainly focused on species diversity (de Oliveira et al, 2014;Brito et al, 2017;Meyer et al, 2020) and on exploring interactions between lianas and trees (Sfair et al, 2010(Sfair et al, , 2015(Sfair et al, , 2018. Beta diversity in lianas is not well understood.…”

“…, 2014; Brito et al , 2017; Meyer et al. , 2020) and on exploring interactions between lianas and trees (Sfair et al , 2010, 2015, 2018). Beta diversity in lianas is not well understood.…”