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Network structure embracing mutualism–antagonism continuums increases community robustness

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, pages 1661–1669 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Theory predicts that contrasting properties of mutualistic and antagonistic networks differentially promote community resilience to species loss. However, the outcome of most ecological interactions falls within a continuum between mutualism and antagonism, and we ignore the extent to which this interactions’ continuum might influence community stability. Using a large data set of interactions, we compared co-extinction cascades that either consider or ignore the mix of beneficial and detrimental actions that parrots exert on plants. When the antagonism–mutualism continuum was considered, a combination of the properties that separately enhance community stability in ecological networks emerged. This combination of properties led to an overall increase of the parrot community robustness to face plant species loss. Our results highlight that the conditional outcomes of interactions can influence the structure of ecological networks, thus affecting our predictions of community stability against eventual changes.

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Fig. 1: Trophic network of parrot species feeding on plant species.
Fig. 2: Odds ratio estimates and confidence intervals (95%) extracted from the generalized linear models that assess the plant functional traits explaining each module.
Fig. 3: Simulations of parrot co-extinction rates triggered by plant species removal based on the observed trophic network.
Fig. 4: Simulations of parrot co-extinction rates triggered by plant species removal.
Fig. 5: Pictures of various antagonistic and mutualistic interactions recorded during fieldwork.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. de la Riva, A. Rojas, E. Pacifico, H. Garrido, A. Requejo, I. Vera, R. Rojas, J. Paca, G. Flores, S. Huici, E. Yucra and D. Alberto for fieldwork assistance, and A. Toledo for making the parrot drawings. M. de la Riva gave permission to publish his photographs in this article. M. Verdú greatly helped to improve the manuscript. Funding was provided by Zoo de Barcelona and Biorena (January 2011), Junta de Andalucía (PAI RNM107 to J.L.T. and F.H., April–September 2011), Fundación Biodiversidad (2012–2013), and a Severo Ochoa ‘microproyecto’ award (to F.H.). A.M.-N. was supported by a Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación postdoctoral contract from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (IJCI-2015-23498).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigaciones sobre Desertificación (CSIC-UVEG-GV), Carretera Moncada-Náquera, Km 4.5, 46113, Moncada, Valencia, Spain

    Alicia Montesinos-Navarro

  2. Department of Conservation Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Americo Vespucio s/n, E-41092, Sevilla, Spain

    Fernando Hiraldo & José L. Tella

  3. Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC. José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    Guillermo Blanco

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  1. Alicia Montesinos-Navarro
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Contributions

G.B., J.L.T., F.H. and A.M.-N. designed the study. G.B., J.L.T. and F.H. compiled the data, A.M.-N. performed the analyses, G.B. and A.M.N. wrote the first draft of the manuscript and all the authors contributed substantially to improving the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Alicia Montesinos-Navarro.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Fig 1, Supplementary Table 1

Supplementary Data 1

File with 6 sheets: 1) Plant traits. Each plant taxa assignment to growth form, dominance, endemicity, and module. 2) Quant. plant–parrot interaction. Number of flocks of each parrot species observed on each plant species. 3) Quali. multilayer network. Presence/absence of plant–parrot interaction, without distinguishing between mutualistic and antagonistic interactions. 4) Quali. mutual. sub-network. Presence/absence of a mutualistic interaction. 5) Quali. antag. subnetwork. Presence/absence of an antagonistic interaction. 6) Weights. Weights used in co-extinction cascades simulations

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Montesinos-Navarro, A., Hiraldo, F., Tella, J.L. et al. Network structure embracing mutualism–antagonism continuums increases community robustness. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 1661–1669 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0320-6

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