Relative impacts of environmental variation and evolutionary history on the nestedness and modularity of tree-herbivore networks.

ABSTRACT: Nestedness and modularity are measures of ecological networks whose causative effects are little understood. We analyzed antagonistic plant-herbivore bipartite networks using common gardens in two contrasting environments comprised of aspen trees with differing evolutionary histories of defence against herbivores. These networks were tightly connected owing to a high level of specialization of arthropod herbivores that spend a large proportion of the life cycle on aspen. The gardens were separated by ten degrees of latitude with resultant differences in abiotic conditions. We evaluated network metrics and reported similar connectance between gardens but greater numbers of links per species in the northern common garden. Interaction matrices revealed clear nestedness, indicating subsetting

SUBMITTER: Robinson KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4541994 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature