Bird-flower visitation networks in the Galápagos unveil a widespread interaction release

Nature Communications
Anna TravesetRuben Heleno

Abstract

Owing to food scarcity and to the high densities that vertebrates often reach on islands, typical insect- and seed-eaters widen their feeding niche and interact with a greater fraction of species than their mainland counterparts. This phenomenon, coined here 'interaction release', has been previously reported for single species but never for an entire community. During 4 years, we gathered data on bird-flower visitation on 12 Galápagos islands. We show that all sampled land birds exploit floral resources and act as potential pollinators across the entire archipelago, in all major habitats and all year round. Although species and link composition varies among islands, strong interaction release takes place on all islands, making their bird-flower network highly generalized. Interaction release is crucial to the survival of native birds but simultaneously threatens the unique biodiversity of this archipelago, as the birds also visit invading plants, likely facilitating their integration into pristine native communities.

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Citations

Jan 11, 2016·Integrative Zoology·Anna TravesetRuben Heleno
Apr 18, 2017·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Esther Sebastián-González
Apr 8, 2016·Nature Communications·Gustavo BurinTiago B Quental
Oct 7, 2018·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Marie V HenriksenMelodie A McGeoch
Apr 16, 2019·American Journal of Botany·Sandra Hervías-ParejoAnna Traveset
Feb 28, 2019·Integrative Zoology·Sandra Hervías-ParejoAnna Traveset
Mar 29, 2020·Ecology·J Christopher D Terry, Owen T Lewis
Sep 1, 2020·PLoS Biology·Benno I SimmonsVasilis Dakos
Jul 4, 2020·Current Zoology·David Hernández-TeixidorManuel Nogales
Jan 10, 2018·Scientific Reports·Jens M OlesenAnna Traveset
Jan 13, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Jeferson Vizentin-BugoniCorey E Tarwater

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