The Robustness and Restoration of a Network of Ecological Networks

Understanding species' interactions and the robustness of interaction networks to species loss is essential to understand the effects of species' declines and extinctions. In most studies, different types of networks (such as food webs, parasitoid webs, seed dispersal networks, and pollina...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2012-02, Vol.335 (6071), p.973-977
Main Authors: Pocock, Michael J. O., Evans, Darren M., Memmott, Jane
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Agroecosystems
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Applied ecology
Biodiversity
Biological and medical sciences
Biological diversity
Biological taxonomies
Conservation biology
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Crops
Ecology
Ecosystem
Endangered & extinct species
Extinction, Biological
Food Chain
Food chains
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General agroecology
General agroecology. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development. Rural area planning. Landscaping
General agronomy. Plant production
General aspects
Generalities. Agricultural and farming systems. Agricultural development
Insecta - physiology
Models, Biological
Networks
Parasites - physiology
Parasitoids
Plant Physiological Phenomena
Plants
Pollination
Species
Synecology
Taxa
Terrestrial ecosystems
Trophic relationships
United Kingdom
Vertebrates - physiology
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Summary:Understanding species' interactions and the robustness of interaction networks to species loss is essential to understand the effects of species' declines and extinctions. In most studies, different types of networks (such as food webs, parasitoid webs, seed dispersal networks, and pollination networks) have been studied separately. We sampled such multiple networks simultaneously in an agroecosystem. We show that the networks varied in their robustness; networks including pollinators appeared to be particularly fragile. We show that, overall, networks did not strongly covary in their robustness, which suggests that ecological restoration (for example, through agri-environment schemes) benefitting one functional group will not inevitably benefit others. Some individual plant species were disproportionately well linked to many other species. This type of information can be used in restoration management, because it identifies the plant taxa that can potentially lead to disproportionate gains in biodiversity.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1214915