Scale dependent patterns in interaction diversity maintain resiliency in a frequently disturbed ecosystem

Abstract

Frequently disturbed ecosystems are characterized by resilience to ecological disturbances. For example, longleaf pine ecosystems are exposed to frequent fire disturbance, and this feature sustains biodiversity. We examined how fire frequency maintains beta diversity of multi-trophic interactions, as this community parameter provides a measure of functional redundancy of an ecosystem. We found that turnover in interaction diversity at small local scales is highest in the most frequently burned stands, conferring immediate resiliency to disturbance by fire. Interactions become more specialized and less resilient as fire frequency decreases. Local scale patterns of interaction diversity contribute to broader scale patterns and confer long-term ecosystem resiliency. Such natural disturbances are likely to be important for maintaining regional diversity of interactions for a broad range of ecosystems.

Importance of interaction rewiring in determining spatial and temporal turnover of tritrophic (Piper‐caterpillar‐parasitoid) metanetworks in the Yucatán Península, México

“…The metanetworks documented here contribute to understanding fine‐scale temporal and spatial turnover in tropical species and interactions, including new records of bi‐ and tripartite interactions. Our data show that the Piper– caterpillar–parasitoid metanetworks changed across sites and seasons, corroborating similar results in tropical (Dáttilo et al, 2019; Lepesqueur et al, 2018) and temperate systems (Dell et al, 2019).…”