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Investigation of Plant Interactions Across Common Mycorrhizal Networks Using Rotated Cores

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Published on: March 26, 2019

Missing and forbidden links in mutualistic networks.

Jens M Olesen¹, Jordi Bascompte, Yoko L Dupont

¹Department of Biological Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark. jens.olesen@biology.au.dk

Proceedings. Biological Sciences

|September 17, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Most ecological interactions are unobserved due to linkage constraints, not under-sampling. Phenological uncoupling significantly explains these missing links in plant-pollinator and seed-dispersal networks.

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Network Theory
Conservation Biology

Background:

Ecological networks represent species interactions, but many potential links remain unobserved.
Unobserved links are categorized as missing (undetected) or forbidden (constrained).
Understanding these unobserved links is crucial for accurate ecological network analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the prevalence and causes of unobserved links in ecological networks.
To differentiate between missing and forbidden links in pollination and seed-dispersal networks.
To quantify the role of phenological constraints in limiting species interactions.

Main Methods:

Studied one Arctic pollination and two Mediterranean seed-dispersal networks.
Constructed interaction matrices based on direct observations (visits) and indirect evidence (pollen).
Analyzed interaction accumulation curves to assess sampling robustness and calculated network connectance (C).

Main Results:

A significant proportion of potential links (48-80%) were unobserved across the studied networks.
Incorporating pollen data revealed numerous previously undetected links, increasing network connectance.
Phenological uncoupling explained 22-28% of unobserved links, highlighting its role as a major constraint.

Conclusions:

A large majority of potential ecological interactions are likely forbidden due to inherent constraints, rather than simply missed by sampling.
Phenological synchrony is critical for interaction realization, with substantial overlap required for high interaction probability.
Linkage constraints, including phenological uncoupling, size mismatch, and accessibility, significantly shape ecological network structure.