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1 July 2018 Modularity and Robustness of a Plant-Frugivore Interaction Network in a Disturbed Tropical Forest
Michelle Ramos-Robles, Ellen Andresen, Cecilia Díaz-Castelazo
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Tropical forests are undergoing a biodiversity crisis including defaunation processes. Structure and function of biotic communities in disturbed ecosystems can be assessed with network analyses of interspecific interactions. In a disturbed tropical forest we studied the network of interactions between fruiting plants and three groups of frugivorous animals, determining the structure, modular roles of species and the robustness of the network under simulated extinction scenarios based on species strength (SS) (relevance), species role (SR) (connectivity) and body size (vulnerability). We recorded 5,347 interactions between 63 frugivore and 60 plant species. The network had a modular structure with four modules: (1) plants with exposed fruits consumed by bats; (2) plants with juicy fruits consumed by larger birds; (3) plants with dry high-lipid-content fruits consumed by migratory birds; and (4) generalist plants consumed by several frugivores (three guilds). Robustness of the network was lower when species with high SS or important connectivity roles (i.e., module hubs) were lost first; when larger animals were lost first the network was more robust than in the other scenarios. Our results suggest that modularity may protect disturbed communities against species loss. We provide bases for developing ecologically-sound measures for the conservation of ecological interactions in anthropogenic landscapes.

2018 Université Laval
Michelle Ramos-Robles, Ellen Andresen, and Cecilia Díaz-Castelazo "Modularity and Robustness of a Plant-Frugivore Interaction Network in a Disturbed Tropical Forest," Ecoscience 25(3), 209-222, (1 July 2018). https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.2018.1446284
Received: 14 August 2017; Accepted: 23 February 2018; Published: 1 July 2018
KEYWORDS
birds
ecological interaction network
frugivorie
frugivory
mammals
mammifères
modularité
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