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Coevolution increases robustness to extinctions in mutualistic but not exploitative communities.

Fernando Pedraza¹, Klementyna A Gawecka¹, Jordi Bascompte¹

¹Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

|March 3, 2025

Summary

Coevolution strengthens ecological networks in mutualistic communities but weakens them in exploitative ones, impacting biodiversity resilience. Understanding these coevolutionary dynamics is crucial for conservation efforts.

Keywords:

antagonism coextinction evolutionary change mutualism resilience species interactions

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Conservation Biology

Background:

Coextinctions amplify the current biodiversity crisis.
Factors influencing community resilience to species loss are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To analyze how coevolution affects the robustness of mutualistic and exploitative communities to secondary extinctions.
To investigate the mechanisms by which coevolution alters community interaction density and network robustness.

Main Methods:

Analysis of coevolutionary impacts on ecological networks.
Modeling of mutualistic and exploitative community dynamics.
Examination of the influence of coevolutionary selection strength and community size.

Main Results:

Coevolution enhances robustness in mutualistic communities by increasing interaction density.
Coevolution reduces robustness in exploitative communities by decreasing interaction density.
The magnitude of these effects is dependent on coevolutionary selection strength and community size.

Conclusions:

Coevolution significantly alters ecological network structure and robustness.
Coevolutionary dynamics play a critical role in determining community resilience to species loss.
Findings inform strategies to mitigate biodiversity loss under global change.