Facilitation between plants shapes pollination networks

Losapio, G.; Fortuna, M.; Bascompte, J.; Schmid, B.; Michalet, R.; Neumeyer, R.; Castro, L.; Cerretti, P.; Germann, C.; Haenni, J.-P.; Klopfstein, S.; Ortiz, J.; Pont, A. C.; Rousse, P.; Schmid, J.; Sommaggio, D.; Schöb, C.

doi:10.1101/161034

bioRxiv · 10.1101/161034

Facilitation between plants shapes pollination networks

Losapio, G.·Fortuna, M.·Bascompte, J.·Schmid, B.·Michalet, R.·Neumeyer, R.·Castro, L.·Cerretti, P.·Germann, C.·Haenni, J.-P.·Klopfstein, S.·Ortiz, J.·Pont, A. C.·Rousse, P.·Schmid, J.·Sommaggio, D.·Schöb, C.

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Abstract

SignificanceAlthough it is known that plant-plant and plant-pollinator interactions can strongly influence biodiversity and its effects on ecosystem functioning, the details of how competition and facili-tation among plants scale up to mutualistic interactions with pollinators and thus affect pollina-tion networks are poorly understood. We introduce a simple experimental system in which we control local plant interactions, measure pollinator responses and characterize plant-pollinator networks. We find that facilitation among plants produces synergistic and antagonistic effects on the pollinator community affecting the architecture and robustness of plant-pollinator net-works. Our results provide evidence for bottom-up non-additive effects of plant interactions on pollination networks and have implications for the way we study and manage ecosystems.

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Losapio, G., Fortuna, M., Bascompte, J., Schmid, B., Michalet, R., Neumeyer, R., Castro, L., Cerretti, P., Germann, C., Haenni, J.-P., Klopfstein, S., Ortiz, J., Pont, A. C., Rousse, P., Schmid, J., Sommaggio, D., Schöb, C.. 2017-07-09. Facilitation between plants shapes pollination networks. https://doi.org/10.1101/161034

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