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Dryad

Data from: Empirical evidence for the ecological significance of interaction network indices within a mutualistic network

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Jan 31, 2025 version files 12.95 KB

Abstract

Community resilience and stability have often been considered outcomes of interaction network structure. These assumptions however have faced strong criticism given that the ecological outcomes of the interactions are often ignored, leading to the overinterpretation of network structural properties. Evaluating the link between network structure and components of reproductive success across species can thus help provide a more ecologically relevant understanding of the relationship between network structure and function (i.e., stability). Specifically, within pollination networks, there is a need to integrate knowledge of interaction network structure with pollination outcomes that reflect the full complexity of the pollination process. Here, we obtained and integrated data on network structural properties resulting from the interactions between 21 plant and 114 floral visiting species, with multiple estimates of male and female reproductive success for all plant species. Network structural properties differentially relate to male and female reproductive functions. Specifically, an increase in species interaction strength and contribution to nestedness increased conspecific pollen delivery but decreased pollen tube formation, suggesting a tradeoff between pollen quantity and quality mediated by network structure. Species network specialization was the only network structural property that maximized both, male and female reproductive functions. These results emphasize the need to incorporate empirical knowledge on species interaction outcomes into our understanding and ecological inferences of network structure. This knowledge is key in order to overcome fundamental limitations in the field of network ecology and for it to continue to provide meaningful insights that help predict the resilience and stability of ecological systems.