1. Integrative Ecology Group, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Apdo. 1056, E-41080 Sevilla, Spain
2. Instituto de Fisica 'Gleb Wataghin', UNICAMP, 13083-970, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

Correspondence to: Jordi Bascompte¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to J.B. (Email: bascompte@ebd.csic.es).

Abstract

The interactions between plants and their animal pollinators and seed dispersers have moulded much of Earth's biodiversity^{1, 2, 3}. Recently, it has been shown that these mutually beneficial interactions form complex networks with a well-defined architecture that may contribute to biodiversity persistence^{4, 5, 6, 7, 8}. Little is known, however, about which ecological and evolutionary processes generate these network patterns^{3, 9}. Here we use phylogenetic methods^{10, 11} to show that the phylogenetic relationships of species predict the number of interactions they exhibit in more than one-third of the networks, and the identity of the species with which they interact in about half of the networks. As a consequence of the phylogenetic effects on interaction patterns, simulated extinction events tend to trigger coextinction cascades of related species. This results in a non-random pruning of the evolutionary tree^{12, 13} and a more pronounced loss of taxonomic diversity than expected in the absence of a phylogenetic signal. Our results emphasize how the simultaneous consideration of phylogenetic information and network architecture can contribute to our understanding of the structure and fate of species-rich communities.

1. Integrative Ecology Group, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Apdo. 1056, E-41080 Sevilla, Spain
2. Instituto de Fisica 'Gleb Wataghin', UNICAMP, 13083-970, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

Correspondence to: Jordi Bascompte¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to J.B. (Email: bascompte@ebd.csic.es).

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.