The influence of floral traits on specialization and modularity of plant-pollinator networks in a biodiversity hotspot in the Peruvian Andes.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Modularity is a ubiquitous and important structural property of ecological networks which describes the relative strengths of sets of interacting species and gives insights into the dynamics of ecological communities. However, this has rarely been studied in species-rich, tropical plant-pollinator networks. Working in a biodiversity hotspot in the Peruvian Andes we assessed the structure of quantitative plant-pollinator networks in nine valleys, quantifying modularity among networks, defining the topological roles of species and the influence of floral traits on specialization.

Methods

A total of 90 transects were surveyed for plants and pollinators at different altitudes and across different life zones. Quantitative modularity (QuanBiMo) was used to dete

SUBMITTER: Watts S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4998976 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature