Mechanisms underlying interaction frequencies and robustness in a novel seed dispersal network: lessons for restoration.

ABSTRACT: As human-caused extinctions and invasions accumulate across the planet, understanding the processes governing ecological functions mediated by species interactions, and anticipating the effect of species loss on such functions become increasingly urgent. In seed dispersal networks, the mechanisms that influence interaction frequencies may also influence the capacity of a species to switch to alternative partners (rewiring), influencing network robustness. Studying seed dispersal interactions in novel ecosystems on O'ahu island, Hawai'i, we test whether the same mechanisms defining interaction frequencies can regulate rewiring and increase network robustness to simulated species extinctions. We found that spatial and temporal overlaps were the primary mechanisms underlying interaction frequ

SUBMITTER: Vizentin-Bugoni J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9470274 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature