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Effects of phenotypic complementarity and phylogeny on the nested structure of mutualistic networks (1919)
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@MISC{Rezende19effectsof,
author = {Enrico L. Rezende and Pedro Jordano and Jordi Bascompte and E. L. Rezende and P. Jordano and Es- Sevilla Spain},
title = {Effects of phenotypic complementarity and phylogeny on the nested structure of mutualistic networks},
year = {1919}
}
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Abstract
Recent studies have started to unravel the structure of mutualistic networks, although few functional explanations underlying such structure have been explored. We used computer simulations to test whether complementarity between phenotypic traits of plants and animals can explain the pervasive tendency of specialists to interact with proper subsets of species that generalists interact with (nested interactions), and how phylogeny affects such interaction patterns. Simultaneously, we assessed whether complementarity and phylogenetic structure were associated with patterns of interaction in a real mutualistic community. Simulation results support that highly nested networks can emerge from phenotypic complementarity, particularly when several traits are involved. The hierarchical structure of phylogenetic relations can also contribute to increased nestedness because traits determining complementarity are then inherited in a correlated fashion. Phylogenetic effects on resulting generalization levels are often low, but can be detected. Results from the empirical network support a relevant role of complementarity and phylogenetic history on interaction patterns. Our results demonstrate that these factors can contribute to nestedness, which emphasize the necessity of considering evolutionary mechanisms in studies of community structure. Plant-animal mutualistic networks depict mutually beneficial interactions between plants and their animal pollinators or seed dispersers. An increasing number of studies currently attempt to understand how these mutualistic networks are structured and, more specifically, how predictable structures may emerge and/or evolve (Olesen and Jordano 2002, Bascompte et al.
Keyphrases
mutualistic network phenotypic complementarity nested structure generalization level phylogenetic structure phylogenetic effect seed dispersers community structure functional explanation phenotypic trait several trait nested interaction proper subset interaction pattern relevant role plant-animal mutualistic network nested network pervasive tendency phylogenetic relation computer simulation real mutualistic community recent study simulation result empirical network support animal pollinator evolutionary mechanism predictable structure hierarchical structure beneficial interaction phylogeny affect interaction pattern correlated fashion phylogenetic history
