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Stable species and interactions in plant-pollinator networks deviate from core position in fragmented habitats

Cite this dataset

Ren, Peng; Si, Xingfeng; Ding, Ping (2022). Stable species and interactions in plant-pollinator networks deviate from core position in fragmented habitats [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rv15dv484

Abstract

Species and their interactions are more dynamic over time and space in fragmented habitats than in continuous habitats. In fragmented habitats, the low nestedness of mutualistic networks may be related to the position change of stable (high persistence over time/space) species and interactions in the networks. Previous studies have shown that stable species and interactions tend to be in the core position of mutualistic networks. However, in fragmented habitats, it remains unknown whether stable species or interactions still tend to be in the core position. To address this gap, here we evaluated the correlation between the position of proximity to the network core and the temporal/spatial stability of species and interactions, using the observation of 42 plant-pollinator networks conducted in a fragmented island landscape over 3 years. We showed that temporally/spatially stable species and interactions deviated from the network core to varying degrees. Temporally stable plants were most likely to deviate from the network core, followed by pollinators and interactions, while only spatially stable pollinators tend to deviate from the network core. When unstable species (present in few time/space points, typically specialists) and interactions occupy the network core, they cannot interact with most species in the network as generalists do, resulting in the decrease of network nestedness. Therefore, from the perspective of position and stability, stable species and interactions deviate from the network core in fragmented habitats, which is an important reason for the decrease of nestedness in mutualistic networks. Our study suggests that protecting plants that occupy the core in large plant-pollinator networks is essential for maintaining the network persistence in fragmented habitats.

Usage notes

The dataset contains 3 files: “1_linner_regression”, “2_null_model_background_data” and “3_span_1CV”.

1. File “1_linner_regression”: The file contains the data of the position-stability correlation of plants (Fig. 3a), pollinators (Fig. 3b) and interactions (Fig. 3c) over time and space on 41 studied islands and the mainland, and also contains R code of linear regressions for the position-stability correlation against island area (ln-transformed, ha) and island isolation (ln-transformed, m). In addition, for the stability of interactions, the data contains the data of the results using the method of removing rare interactions and using the previous method 1/CV. The corresponding R script file was “linner_regression.R”.

2. File “2_null_model_background_data”: The file contains the data and R code for null model networks. The corresponding R script files were “function_of_null_model_network.R” and “null_model_R_code.R”.

3. File “3_span_1CV”: The file contains the data and R code for calculating the stability using our proposed method 1/CV. The corresponding R script file was “temporal_spatial_span_CV.R”.

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China, Award: 32030066

National Natural Science Foundation of China, Award: 31872210

National Natural Science Foundation of China, Award: 31930073

National Natural Science Foundation of China, Award: 32071545

Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, Award: 19QA1403300

Program for Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar)*, Award: TP2020016