Interaction network structure explains species' temporal persistence in empirical plant-pollinator communities

© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited..

Despite clear evidence that some pollinator populations are declining, our ability to predict pollinator communities prone to collapse or species at risk of local extinction is remarkably poor. Here, we develop a model grounded in the structuralist approach that allows us to draw sound predictions regarding the temporal persistence of species in mutualistic networks. Using high-resolution data from a six-year study following 12 independent plant-pollinator communities, we confirm that pollinator species with more persistent populations in the field are theoretically predicted to tolerate a larger range of environmental changes. Persistent communities are not necessarily more diverse, but are generally located in larger habitat patches, and present a distinctive combination of generalist and specialist species resulting in a more nested structure, as predicted by previous theoretical work. Hence, pollinator interactions directly inform about their ability to persist, opening the door to use theoretically informed models to predict species' fate within the ongoing global change.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:8

Enthalten in:

Nature ecology & evolution - 8(2024), 3 vom: 01. März, Seite 423-429

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Domínguez-Garcia, Virginia [VerfasserIn]
Molina, Francisco P [VerfasserIn]
Godoy, Oscar [VerfasserIn]
Bartomeus, Ignasi [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Journal Article

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 13.03.2024

Date Revised 14.03.2024

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1038/s41559-023-02314-3

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM367919427