Invasive Mutualists Erode Native Pollination Webs

Invasive Mutualists Erode Native Pollination Webs

Plant–animal mutualisms are characterized by weak or asymmetric mutual dependences between interacting species, a feature that could increase community stability. If invasive species integrate into mutualistic webs, they may alter web structure, with consequences for species persistence. However, th...

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Main Authors: Aizen, Marcelo A, Morales, Carolina L, Morales, Juan M
Format: Online
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science 2008
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235906/
id pubmed-2235906
recordtype oai_dc
spelling pubmed-22359062008-02-12 Invasive Mutualists Erode Native Pollination Webs Aizen, Marcelo A Morales, Carolina L Morales, Juan M Research Article Plant–animal mutualisms are characterized by weak or asymmetric mutual dependences between interacting species, a feature that could increase community stability. If invasive species integrate into mutualistic webs, they may alter web structure, with consequences for species persistence. However, the effect of alien mutualists on the architecture of plant–pollinator webs remains largely unexplored. We analyzed the extent of mutual dependency between interacting species, as a measure of mutualism strength, and the connectivity of 10 paired plant–pollinator webs, eight from forests of the southern Andes and two from oceanic islands, with different incidences of alien species. Highly invaded webs exhibited weaker mutualism than less-invaded webs. This potential increase in network stability was the result of a disproportionate increase in the importance and participation of alien species in the most asymmetric interactions. The integration of alien mutualists did not alter overall network connectivity, but links were transferred from generalist native species to super-generalist alien species during invasion. Therefore, connectivity among native species declined in highly invaded webs. These modifications in the structure of pollination webs, due to dominance of alien mutualists, can leave many native species subject to novel ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Public Library of Science 2008-02 2008-02-12 /pmc/articles/PMC2235906/ /pubmed/18271628 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0060031 Text en © 2008 Aizen et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type Open Access Journal
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building NCBI PubMed
collection Online Access
language English
format Online
author Aizen, Marcelo A
Morales, Carolina L
Morales, Juan M
spellingShingle Aizen, Marcelo A
Morales, Carolina L
Morales, Juan M
Invasive Mutualists Erode Native Pollination Webs
author_facet Aizen, Marcelo A
Morales, Carolina L
Morales, Juan M
author_sort Aizen, Marcelo A
title Invasive Mutualists Erode Native Pollination Webs
title_short Invasive Mutualists Erode Native Pollination Webs
title_full Invasive Mutualists Erode Native Pollination Webs
title_fullStr Invasive Mutualists Erode Native Pollination Webs
title_full_unstemmed Invasive Mutualists Erode Native Pollination Webs
title_sort invasive mutualists erode native pollination webs
description Plant–animal mutualisms are characterized by weak or asymmetric mutual dependences between interacting species, a feature that could increase community stability. If invasive species integrate into mutualistic webs, they may alter web structure, with consequences for species persistence. However, the effect of alien mutualists on the architecture of plant–pollinator webs remains largely unexplored. We analyzed the extent of mutual dependency between interacting species, as a measure of mutualism strength, and the connectivity of 10 paired plant–pollinator webs, eight from forests of the southern Andes and two from oceanic islands, with different incidences of alien species. Highly invaded webs exhibited weaker mutualism than less-invaded webs. This potential increase in network stability was the result of a disproportionate increase in the importance and participation of alien species in the most asymmetric interactions. The integration of alien mutualists did not alter overall network connectivity, but links were transferred from generalist native species to super-generalist alien species during invasion. Therefore, connectivity among native species declined in highly invaded webs. These modifications in the structure of pollination webs, due to dominance of alien mutualists, can leave many native species subject to novel ecological and evolutionary dynamics.
publisher Public Library of Science
publishDate 2008
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235906/
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