Asymmetries in specialization in ant-plant mutualistic networks.

ABSTRACT: Mutualistic networks involving plants and their pollinators or frugivores have been shown recently to exhibit a particular asymmetrical organization of interactions among species called nestedness: a core of reciprocal generalists accompanied by specialist species that interact almost exclusively with generalists. This structure contrasts with compartmentalized assemblage structures that have been verified in antagonistic food webs. Here we evaluated whether nestedness is a property of another type of mutualism-the interactions between ants and extrafloral nectary-bearing plants--and whether species richness may lead to differences in degree of nestedness among biological communities. We investigated network structure in four communities in Mexico. Nested patterns in ant-plant networks wer

SUBMITTER: Guimaraes PR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1635486 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature