Contrasting Partners' Traits of Generalized and Specialized Species in Flower-Visitation Networks.

ABSTRACT: Much ecological research has focused on trying to understand why species are generalized or specialized in their interactions and how networks develop in a certain environment. It is now well known that traits such as phenology and abundance of a species are important determinants of its generalization level (i.e., number of different interactions or links to other species). Less information is available, however, on whether generalized and specialized species differ in particular traits of their interacting partners. Such partners might differ, for instance, in abundance and/or in the diversity of functional groups they belong to. Moreover, species might exhibit shifts through time (e.g., flowering season) in their partners' traits, though we know close to nothing on whether these changes

SUBMITTER: Castro-Urgal R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4777429 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature