Global and regional ecological boundaries explain abrupt spatial discontinuities in avian frugivory interactions

• Published in: Nature Communications
• Main Authors: Martins, Lucas P., Stouffer, Daniel B., Blendinger, Pedro G., Böhning-Gaese, Katrin, Buitrón Jurado, Galo, Correia, Marta, Jordano Barbudo, Pedro D., Tylianakis, Jason M.
• Other Authors: Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Marsden Fund, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), Brazilian Research Council, Rufford Small Grants for Nature Conservation, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia (FAPESB), European Research Council (ERC), Swiss National Science Foundation (SNFS), Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft / German Research Foundation (DFG), Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. Portugal, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (Argentina), Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Nature 2023
• Subjects: Bia; Marsden; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://idus.us.es/handle//11441/146555

Species interactions can propagate disturbances across space via direct and indirect effects, potentially connecting species at a global scale. However, ecological and biogeographic boundaries may mitigate this spread by demarcating the limits of ecological networks. We tested whether large-scale ecological boundaries (ecoregions and biomes) and human disturbance gradients increase dissimilarity among plant-frugivore networks, while accounting for background spatial and elevational gradients and differences in network sampling. We assessed network dissimilarity patterns over a broad spatial scale, using 196 quantitative avian frugivory networks (encompassing 1496 plant and 1004 bird species) distributed across 67 ecoregions, 11 biomes, and 6 continents. We show that dissimilarities in species and interaction composition, but not network structure, are greater across ecoregion and biome boundaries and along different levels of human disturbance. Our findings indicate that biogeographic boundaries delineate the world’s biodiversity of interactions and likely contribute to mitigating the propagation of disturbances at large spatial scales. Marsden Fund UOC1705 Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo 2014/01986-0, 2015/ 15172-7, 2016/18355-8, 2004/00810-3, 2008/10154-7 Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro E-26/200.610/2022 Brazilian Research Council 540481/01-7, 304742/2019-8, 300970/2015-3 Rufford Small Grants for Nature Conservation, 22426–1, 9163-1, 11042-1 Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz 00220.1100.1644/10-2018 Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia 0525/ 2016 European Research Council-H2020 787638 Swiss National Science Foundation 173342 Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future SR200100005 German Science Foundation PAK 825/1, FOR 2730, FOR 1246, HE2041/ 20-1 Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia UID/BIA/04004/ 2020 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas PIP 592 Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas ...