Robustness of Alpine Pollination Networks: Effects of Network Structure and Consequences for Endemic Plants

Santamaría, Silvia; Galeano, Javier; Pastor, M.; Méndez, Marcos

doi:10.1657/1938-4246-46.3.568

Cited by 21 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Furthermore, the broad range of robustness values obtained using IBRA highlights the high dependence of robustness on the structural properties of each network (Dunne et al , Gao et al , Allesina et al , Pastor et al ), which prevents generalizations about the robustness of pollination networks. As previously suggested (Memmott et al , Dormann et al , Pastor et al , Santamaría et al ), network asymmetry is a key feature in the robustness of bipartite networks, which will probably determine which subset is the least robust.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…We applied the interaction extinction approach to robustness assessment recently proposed by Pastor et al () to 12 empirical binary ASP networks previously analyzed in Santamaría et al () using the traditional node (species) extinction approach (Memmott et al ). Although weighted networks would be preferable, only three weighted ASP networks were available.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To compare robustness under NBRA (analyzed in Santamaría et al ) and IBRA, we used the NBRA and the IBRA node–node extinction plots and their corresponding R 50 and R 50‐N‐N robustness indices (Fig. ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main goal of this study is to assess whether there are differences in the robustness of alpine and subalpine pollination (hereafter ASP) networks when interactions rather than species are cumulatively removed. A parallel study (Santamaría et al ) evaluated the robustness of the 12 available ASP networks using the traditional approach. Here, we use the data set from that study to estimate the robustness of ASP networks to the removal of their interactions.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Removing interactions, rather than species, casts doubt on the high robustness of pollination networks

Santamaría

Galeano

Pastor

et al. 2015

Oikos

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In the last 15 years, a complex networks perspective has been increasingly used in the robustness assessment of ecological systems. It is therefore crucial to assess the reliability of such tools. Based on the traditional simulation of node (species) removal, mutualistic pollination networks are considered to be relatively robust because of their 1) truncated power-law degree distribution, 2) redundancy in the number of pollinators per plant and 3) nested interaction pattern. However, species removal is only one of several possible approaches to network robustness assessment. Empirical evidence suggests a decline in abundance prior to the extinction of interacting species, arguing in favour of an interaction removalbased approach (i.e. interaction disruption), as opposed to traditional species removal. For simulated networks, these two approaches yield radically different conclusions, but no tests are currently available for empirical mutualistic networks. This study compared this new robustness evaluation approach based on interaction extinction versus the traditional species removal approach for 12 alpine and subalpine pollination networks. In comparison with species removal, interaction removal produced higher robustness in the worst-case extinction scenario but lower robustness in the best-case extinction scenario. Our results indicate that: 1) these two approaches yield very different conclusions and 2) existing assessments of ecological network robustness could be overly optimistic, at least those based on a disturbance affecting species at random or beginning with the least connected species. Therefore, further empirical study of plant-pollinator interactions in disturbed ecosystems is imperative to understand how pollination networks are disassembled.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Removing interactions, rather than species, casts doubt on the high robustness of pollination networks

Santamaría

Galeano

Pastor

et al. 2015

Oikos

Self Cite

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“…Santamaría et al . assessed the robustness to species extinction of two Spanish alpine pollination networks and found that they ranked intermediate to high compared to other networks.…”

Section: Network Perspective On Alpine Pollinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of climate change on alpine plants and their pollinators

Inouye

2019

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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Alpine environments are among the habitats most strongly affected by climate change, and consequently their unique plants and pollinators are faced with the challenge of adapting or going extinct. Changes in temperature and precipitation affect snowpack and snowmelt, resulting in changes in the growing season in this environment where plant growth and pollinator activity are constrained to the snow‐free season, which can vary significantly across the landscape if there is significant topographic complexity. As in other ecosystems, the resulting changes in phenology are not uniform among species, creating the potential for altered and new interspecific interactions. New plant and animal species are arriving as lower altitude species move up with warming temperatures, introducing new competitors and generating changes in plant–pollinator interactions. Repeating historical surveys, taking advantage of museum collections, and using new technology will facilitate our understanding of how plants and pollinators are responding to the changing alpine environment.

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