Content with tag pollination networks .

The Doñana Biological Station studies how relationships between species come from individual interactions

  • Interactions between species are usually simplified to relationship between populations, but the individuals are the ones who interact

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  • This study contributes to find the effects of the variation between individuals within communities using data on plant-pollinator interactions obtained in the Doñana Biological Reserve.

 

If we observe nature carefully, we can see that living beings are connected to each other, creating an ecosystem, that is, a biological system where organisms interact with each other. These links connect members of the same species, but also of other species.

Ecological interactions, such as those between plants and their pollinators, have often been studied from a species or population perspective. However, these processes are taken place on a smaller scale since ecological interactions are established by the individuals from populations of different species.

Studying plant-pollinator interactions

Using empirical data on plant-pollinator interactions obtained in the Doñana National Park, researchers from the Doñana Biological Station in the SUMHAL project evaluated how interindividual plant variation in pollinator use scales up to affect community structure and dynamics.

The results show that individuals differ from each other in traits related to pollinator attraction and, therefore, pollinator use. Furthermore, the persistence capacity of plant-pollinator communities is maximised when this variation between individual plants in traits and pollinator use is high. This is because the individual variation reduces competition between species sharing pollinators and increases the chances of coexistence of each of these species.

"We conducted censuses of pollinator visits on individual plants using cameras and video processing, collected data on plant traits such as size and flower production, and characterised the composition of each plant's neighbours", says Blanca Arroyo Correa, a researcher in the SUMHAL project.

From species to individuals

In the study of community ecology, network theory has recently been used to understand the interactions between species. Since species share space, time and resources with each other, it is useful to consider the complete network of connections between all species in the community.

However, most species have individuals that differ in the way they interact with other species. This community-level network approach, which describes interactions between species, often treats variation between individuals as noise rather than as an important feature of ecological interactions. In this study, the team used individual-based networks, in which individual plants are connected to the pollinator species that visit them, in order to explicitly describe patterns of pollinator use by individual plants.

At present, there is no evidence on how variation among individuals can affect community structure and their ability to persist in the presence of environmental disturbance, such as climate change or habitat loss.

According to Dr. Pedro Jordano, one of the principal investigators of the eLabs-BioINTERACT group of the SUMHAL project, "this research aims to generate knowledge on how the variation we find within populations can mediate the effects of disturbances on biodiversity".

Lavender: visited by bees and bumblebees

For example, in the case of the lavender, plants with more flowers attract more bumblebees compared to plants with fewer flowers, which attract smaller bees. Because each plant in the population is "specialised" in attracting one type of pollinator, only some plants will share pollinators with the other plant species growing around them, such as rosemary or rockroses. By reducing competition between plant species for pollinator attraction, the individual "specialisation" of each plant allows several plant species to survive coexisting in a community.

Thus, variability among individual plants in traits such as flower production and pollinator use may allow different plant species to coexist, maximising the diversity of plant communities

The effects of homogeneity within species on biodiversity

This study contributes to an understanding of the association between variation in individual traits, variation in the ecological interactions established by individuals, the interaction patterns of the species to which these individuals belong, and their effects on community structure and dynamics.

Current conservation efforts often focus on species, overlooking variation among individuals within species and their ecological effects. However, this variation is particularly related to human impact, for instance, through the decrease in genetic diversity within populations. A good understanding of the ecological consequences of variation within species is therefore essential to predict how rapid changes in diversity within species will affect communities, ecosystems and the services they provide.

Global change is currently causing a homogenisation of populations and communities due to a reduction in natural variability among individuals. This study demonstrates that this homogenisation would have negative consequences on the biodiversity, and provides knowledge to develop strategies for the conservation of diversity within populations, and not only the conservation of species.

 

El proyecto LifeWatch ERIC - SUMHAL

The SUMHAL project, Sustainability for Mediterraean Hotspots in Andalusia integrating LifeWatch ERIC, framed within the LifeWatch ERIC pan-European distributed e-Science infrastructure, which aims to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity in Andalusia, through field work and virtual research environments. It is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, through the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) [SUMHAL, LIFEWATCH-2019-09-CSIC-4, POPE 2014-2020].

Its main objective is to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity in natural or semi-natural systems in the western Mediterranean, based on high-tech infrastructures, and the association between highly specialised research personnel and the public.

 


Blanca Arroyo-Correa, Pedro Jordano e Ignasi Bartomeus

Intraspecific variation in species interactions promotes the feasibility of mutualistic assemblages Ecology Letters (2023)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14163


https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14163

Content with tag pollination networks .

The Doñana Biological Station studies how relationships between species come from individual interactions

Interactions between species are usually simplified to relationship between populations, but the individuals are the ones who interact
This study contributes to find the effects of the...

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