Association Patterns in Saproxylic Insect Networks in Three Iberian Mediterranean Woodlands and Their Resistance to Microhabitat Loss


Autoria(s): Quinto Cánovas, Javier; Marcos García, María Ángeles; Díaz Castelazo, Cecilia; Rico-Gray, Víctor; Galante, Eduardo; Micó, Estefanía
Contribuinte(s)

Universidad de Alicante. Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales y Recursos Naturales

Universidad de Alicante. Centro Iberoamericano de la Biodiversidad

Biodiversidad y Biotecnología aplicadas a la Biología de la Conservación

Data(s)

21/10/2015

21/10/2015

26/03/2015

Resumo

The assessment of the relationship between species diversity, species interactions and environmental characteristics is indispensable for understanding network architecture and ecological distribution in complex networks. Saproxylic insect communities inhabiting tree hollow microhabitats within Mediterranean woodlands are highly dependent on woodland configuration and on microhabitat supply they harbor, so can be studied under the network analysis perspective. We assessed the differences in interacting patterns according to woodland site, and analysed the importance of functional species in modelling network architecture. We then evaluated their implications for saproxylic assemblages’ persistence, through simulations of three possible scenarios of loss of tree hollow microhabitat. Tree hollow-saproxylic insect networks per woodland site presented a significant nested pattern. Those woodlands with higher complexity of tree individuals and tree hollow microhabitats also housed higher species/interactions diversity and complexity of saproxylic networks, and exhibited a higher degree of nestedness, suggesting that a higher woodland complexity positively influences saproxylic diversity and interaction complexity, thus determining higher degree of nestedness. Moreover, the number of insects acting as key interconnectors (nodes falling into the core region, using core/periphery tests) was similar among woodland sites, but the species identity varied on each. Such differences in insect core composition among woodland sites suggest the functional role they depict at woodland scale. Tree hollows acting as core corresponded with large tree hollows near the ground and simultaneously housing various breeding microsites, whereas core insects were species mediating relevant ecological interactions within saproxylic communities, e.g. predation, competitive or facilitation interactions. Differences in network patterns and tree hollow characteristics among woodland sites clearly defined different sensitivity to microhabitat loss, and higher saproxylic diversity and woodland complexity showed positive relation with robustness. These results highlight that woodland complexity goes hand in hand with biotic and ecological complexity of saproxylic networks, and together exhibited positive effects on network robustness.

The research Projects I+D CGL2011-23658 y CGL2012-31669 of the Spanish Minister of Science provided economic support.

Identificador

Quinto J, Marcos-García MdlÁ, Díaz-Castelazo C, Rico-Gray V, Galante E, Micó E (2015) Association Patterns in Saproxylic Insect Networks in Three Iberian Mediterranean Woodlands and Their Resistance to Microhabitat Loss. PLoS ONE 10(3): e0122141. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0122141

1932-6203

http://hdl.handle.net/10045/50388

10.1371/journal.pone.0122141

Idioma(s)

eng

Publicador

Public Library of Science (PLoS)

Relação

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0122141

Direitos

© 2015 Quinto et al. 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 credited

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Palavras-Chave #Association patterns #Saproxylic insect networks #Iberian Mediterranean woodlands #Resistance #Microhabitat loss #Zoología
Tipo

info:eu-repo/semantics/article