Loss of Generalist Plant Species and Functional Diversity Decreases the Robustness of a Seed Dispersal Network

Understanding cascading effects of species loss is a major challenge for ecologists. Traditionally, the robustness of ecological networks has been evaluated based on simulation studies where primary extinctions occur at random or as a function of species specialization, ignoring other important biol...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental conservation 2019-03, Vol.46 (1), p.52-58
Main Authors: Bastazini, Vinicius AG, Debastiani, Vanderlei J, Azambuja, Bethânia O, Guimarães, Paulo R, Pillar, Valério D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Biological evolution
Dispersal
Dispersion
Ecological effects
Ecological monitoring
Ecologists
Ecology
Ecosystems
Endangered & extinct species
Environmental economics
Environmental policy
Environmental Sciences
Extinction
Flowers & plants
Forest management
Forests
Grassland management
Grasslands
Life Sciences
Mutualism
Non-Thematic Papers
Plant diversity
Robustness
Seed dispersal
Seeds
Specialization
Species diversity
Species extinction
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Summary:Understanding cascading effects of species loss is a major challenge for ecologists. Traditionally, the robustness of ecological networks has been evaluated based on simulation studies where primary extinctions occur at random or as a function of species specialization, ignoring other important biological factors. Here, we estimate the robustness of a seed dispersal network from a grassland–forest mosaic in southern Brazil, simulating distinct scenarios of woody plant species extinction, including scenarios where species are eliminated based on their evolutionary and functional distinctiveness. Our results suggest that the network is more robust when species are eliminated based on their evolutionary uniqueness, followed by random extinctions, the extinction of the most specialist species, functional distinctiveness and, at last, when the most generalist species are sequentially eliminated. Our results provide important information for grassland–forest mosaic management, as they indicate that loss of generalist species and functional diversity makes the system more likely to collapse.
ISSN:0376-8929
1469-4387
DOI:10.1017/S0376892918000334