Biology subjects

Arroyo-Correa, B.

Publications and source records attributed to Arroyo-Correa, B..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Climate-driven specialisation in plant-pollinator networks peaks outside the tropics

Pollination is a key ecological process sustaining biodiversity and food security, yet global patterns of plant-pollinator specialisation have remained unresolved. Using the largest global dataset of quantitative networks (>3,400 networks, >110,000 interactions), we show that the latitudinal specialisation gradient (LSG) exists, but it is non-linear, hemispherically asymmetric, and strongly taxon-dependent. Network-level and pollinator specialisation were lowest in the tropics and peaked at northern mid-latitudes, whereas plants tended to become more specialised toward higher latitudes. Climate consistently outperformed latitude, species richness, and environmental productivity as a predictor of these patterns. Specialisation declined with increasing temperature, rose with moderate rainfall before declining at the wettest sites, and increased with temperature seasonality, but plants and pollinators responded differently to these drivers. Functional groups diverged strongly: ectothermic insects were most specialised in cooler, seasonal climates, while birds showed weaker links to latitude but reduced specialisation in wetter regions. These findings demonstrate that climate, rather than latitude or species richness, structures global variation in specialisation. Because warmer and less seasonal climates promote generalisation, climate change is likely to disrupt the most specialised pollination systems, unevenly across taxa and regions, with important consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem stability.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Integrating intraspecific variation into population dynamics reveals how interacting species persist in mutualistic communities

Mutualistic interactions among organisms are fundamental to the origin and maintenance of bio-diversity. Yet, the study of community dynamics often relies on species-level values, ignoring the effects of intraspecific variation. We propose a theoretical framework for evaluating the extent to which variation within populations can influence species persistence in mutualistic systems. Next, drawing from detailed empirical data on plant-pollinator interactions and plant fitness, we quantify intraspecific variation in the mutualistic benefits received by plants and incorporate this variation into estimations of structural stability, a robust theoretical measure of species likelihood of persistence. Through explicit consideration of intraspecific variation, we demonstrate that, in the absence of heterospecific plant competitors, plant populations composed of specialized individuals promote the persistence of the plant species they belong to and their associated pollinator community. However, these positive effects do not hold when plant species compete with a broader plant community. In this case, having more heterogeneous mixtures of plant individuals (i.e., both specialized and generalized) is more beneficial for a populations persistence. By integrating the proposed framework with empirical data, we are able to explicitly account for individual-level variation, opening the door to a better understanding of the mechanisms promoting biodiversity in mutualistic communities.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Downscaling mutualistic networks from species to individuals reveals consistent interaction niches and roles within plant populations

Species-level networks emerge as the combination of interactions spanning multiple individuals, and their study has received considerable attention over the past 30 years. However, less is known about the structure of interaction configurations within species, even though individuals are the actual interacting units in nature. We compiled 46 empirical, individual-based, interaction networks on plant-animal seed dispersal mutualisms, comprising 1037 plant individuals across 29 species from various regions. We compared the structure of individual-based networks to that of species-based networks and, by extending the niche concept to interaction assemblages, we explored individual plant specialization. Using a Bayesian framework to account for uncertainty derived from sampling, we examined how plant individuals "explore" the interaction niche of their populations. Both individual-based and species-based networks exhibited high variability in network properties, lacking remarkable structural and topological differences between them. Within populations, frugivores interaction allocation among plant individuals was highly heterogeneous, with one to three frugivore species dominating interactions. Regardless of species or bioregion, plant individuals displayed a variety of interaction profiles across populations, with a consistently small percentage of individuals playing a central role and exhibiting high diversity in their interaction assemblage. Plant populations showed variable mid to low levels of niche specialization; and individuals interaction niche "breadth" accounted for 70% of the population interaction diversity, on average. Our results highlight how downscaling from species to individual-based networks helps understanding the structuring of interactions within ecological communities and provide an empirical basis for the extension of niche theory to complex mutualistic networks. Significance StatementEcological interactions in nature occur between individual partners rather than species, and their outcomes determine fitness variation. By examining among-individual variation in interaction niches, we can bridge evolutionary and ecological perspectives to understand interaction biodiversity. This study investigates individual plant variation in frugivore assemblages worldwide, exploring how plant individuals "build" their interaction profiles with animal frugivores. The structure of networks composed of individuals was surprisingly similar to networks composed of species. Within populations, only a few plants played a key role in attracting a high diversity of frugivores, making them central to the overall network structure. Individuals actually interacted with a substantial diversity of partners, with individual niche "breadth" accounting for up to 70% of total interaction diversity, on average.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2020

Phenotypic and microsite plant individual variation determine the pollination network structure and its functional consequences

The biotic and abiotic context of individual plants in animal-pollinated plant populations may influence pollinator foraging behaviour and therefore how the pollen flow occurs. Thus, this variation among conspecifics within a given plant population can ultimately influence the plant reproductive success. Here we used a fine-scale, well characterized population of Halimium halimifolium in combination with exponential random graph models (ERGMs) to assess how the intrapopulation variation in intrinsic (i.e. phenotype and phenology) and extrinsic (i.e. microsite) plant attributes configures individual plant-pollinator networks and its functional consequences. We found that pollinator visitation patterns and the emerging network configuration were associated with both intrinsic and extrinsic plant attributes, such as the number of flowers, the flowering synchrony and the cover of intraspecific and interspecific neighbours. Both intrinsic and extrinsic plant attributes also affected the plant female reproductive success directly and indirectly - through its effects on the probability of conspecifics plants to share pollinators. Our study opens up new approaches to assess and predict the functional consequences of context-dependency in plant-pollinator interactions, especially under global change scenarios, where the ecological context of individual plants is likely to change.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2018

Bee and floral traits affect the characteristics of the vibrations experienced by flowers during buzz-pollination

During buzz pollination, bees use their indirect flight muscles to produce vibrations that are transmitted to the flowers and result in pollen release. Although buzz pollination has been known for >100 years, we are still in the early stages of understanding how bee and floral characteristics affect the production and transmission of floral vibrations. Here we analysed floral vibrations produced by four closely related bumblebee taxa (Bombus spp.) on two buzz-pollinated plants species (Solanum spp.). We measured floral vibrations transmitted to the flower to establish the extent to which the mechanical properties of floral vibrations depend on bee and plant characteristics. By comparing four bee taxa visiting the same plant species, we found that peak acceleration (PA), root mean-squared acceleration (RMS) and frequency varies between bee taxa, but that neither bee size (intertegular distance) or flower biomass (dry weight) affect PA, RMS or frequency. A comparison of floral vibrations of two bee taxa visiting flowers of two plant species, showed that, while bee species affects PA, RMS and frequency, plant species affects acceleration (PA and RMS) but not frequency. When accounting for differences in the transmission of vibrations across the two types of flowers, using a species-specific \"coupling factor\", we found that RMS acceleration and peak displacement does not differ between plant species. This suggests that bees produce the same initial acceleration in different plants but that transmission of these vibrations through the flower is affected by floral characteristics.\n\nSummary statementWe show that buzz-pollinating bumblebees differ in the type of vibrations produced while visiting the same flower, and that floral species affects the transmission properties of those vibrations.

biophysics↗