Land use is a stronger determinant of ecological network complexity than the number of trophic levels

Author:

Amarillo-Suárez Angela R.ORCID,Camacho-Erazo Mariana,Herrera Henri W.

Abstract

Land modification causes biodiversity loss and ecosystem modification. Despite many studies on the impacts of this factor, there is little empirical evidence on how it affects the interaction networks of plants, herbivores and their natural enemies; likewise, there is little evidence on how those networks change due to differences in the complexity of the communities they comprise. We analyzed the effects of land use and number of trophic levels on the interaction networks of exotic legume species and their associated arthropods. We collected seedpods from five exotic legume species (one of them invasive) in four land use types (urbanization, roadside, L. leucocephala plantation, wooded pasture) on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos, and obtained all arthropods that emerged from the seeds. Then, we built and analyzed the interaction networks for each land use at two community scales, each with different numbers of trophic levels: (1) three levels: plant-seed beetle-parasitoid (PSP), and (2) more than three levels: plant-seed beetle-parasitoid-predator and other trophic guilds (PSPP). Land use was more relevant than number of trophic levels in the configuration of species interactions. The number of species and interactions was highest on roadsides at PSPP and lowest in plantations at PSP. We found a significant effect of land use on connectance and interaction evenness (IE), and no significant effect of number of trophic levels on connectance, diversity or IE. The simultaneous analysis of land use and number of trophic levels enabled the identification of more complex patterns of community structure. Comparison of the patterns we found among islands and between exotic and native legumes is recommended. Understanding the structure of the communities analyzed here, as well as the relative contribution of their determinants of change, would allow us to develop conservation plans according to the dynamics of these neo-ecosystems.

Funder

Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia

Research Institute of the Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo (ESPOCH), Riobamba

Charles Darwin Foundation for the Galapagos Islands

Publisher

Public Library of Science (PLoS)

Reference81 articles.

1. Could a potential Anthropocene mass extinction define a new geological period?;KL Bacon;Anthr Rev.,2016

2. Anthropocene: Earth system, geological, philosophical and political paradigm shifts.;MA Maslin;Anthr Rev,2015

3. Legacy Effects of Human Land Use: Ecosystems as Time-Lagged Systems.;M Bürgi;Ecosystems.,2017

4. Land use change, urbanization, and change in landscape pattern in a metropolitan area;H Dadashpoor;Sci Total Environ,2019

5. Is local biodiversity declining or not? A summary of the debate over analysis of species richness time trends;BJ Cardinale;Biol Conserv,2018

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3