Antagonistic interaction networks are structured independently of latitude and host guild

An increase in species richness with decreasing latitude is a prominent pattern in nature. However, it remains unclear whether there are corresponding latitudinal gradients in the properties of ecological interaction networks. We investigated the structure of 216 quantitative antagonistic networks c...

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Main Authors: Morris, R, Gripenberg, S, Lewis, O, Roslin, T
Format: Journal article
Published: 2014
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author Morris, R
Gripenberg, S
Gripenberg, S
Lewis, O
Roslin, T
author_facet Morris, R
Gripenberg, S
Gripenberg, S
Lewis, O
Roslin, T
author_sort Morris, R
collection OXFORD
description An increase in species richness with decreasing latitude is a prominent pattern in nature. However, it remains unclear whether there are corresponding latitudinal gradients in the properties of ecological interaction networks. We investigated the structure of 216 quantitative antagonistic networks comprising insect hosts and their parasitoids, drawn from 28 studies from the High Arctic to the tropics. Key metrics of network structure were strongly affected by the size of the interaction matrix (i.e. the total number of interactions documented between individuals) and by the taxonomic diversity of the host taxa involved. After controlling for these sampling effects, quantitative networks showed no consistent structural patterns across latitude and host guilds, suggesting that there may be basic rules for how sets of antagonists interact with resource species. Furthermore, the strong association between network size and structure implies that many apparent spatial and temporal variations in network structure may prove to be artefacts. © 2013 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd and CNRS.
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spelling oxford-uuid:73d84bef-a997-4617-864c-6f4a71bbdd762022-03-26T19:59:03ZAntagonistic interaction networks are structured independently of latitude and host guildJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:73d84bef-a997-4617-864c-6f4a71bbdd76Symplectic Elements at Oxford2014Morris, RGripenberg, SGripenberg, SLewis, ORoslin, TAn increase in species richness with decreasing latitude is a prominent pattern in nature. However, it remains unclear whether there are corresponding latitudinal gradients in the properties of ecological interaction networks. We investigated the structure of 216 quantitative antagonistic networks comprising insect hosts and their parasitoids, drawn from 28 studies from the High Arctic to the tropics. Key metrics of network structure were strongly affected by the size of the interaction matrix (i.e. the total number of interactions documented between individuals) and by the taxonomic diversity of the host taxa involved. After controlling for these sampling effects, quantitative networks showed no consistent structural patterns across latitude and host guilds, suggesting that there may be basic rules for how sets of antagonists interact with resource species. Furthermore, the strong association between network size and structure implies that many apparent spatial and temporal variations in network structure may prove to be artefacts. © 2013 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd and CNRS.
spellingShingle Morris, R
Gripenberg, S
Gripenberg, S
Lewis, O
Roslin, T
Antagonistic interaction networks are structured independently of latitude and host guild
title Antagonistic interaction networks are structured independently of latitude and host guild
title_full Antagonistic interaction networks are structured independently of latitude and host guild
title_fullStr Antagonistic interaction networks are structured independently of latitude and host guild
title_full_unstemmed Antagonistic interaction networks are structured independently of latitude and host guild
title_short Antagonistic interaction networks are structured independently of latitude and host guild
title_sort antagonistic interaction networks are structured independently of latitude and host guild
work_keys_str_mv AT morrisr antagonisticinteractionnetworksarestructuredindependentlyoflatitudeandhostguild
AT gripenbergs antagonisticinteractionnetworksarestructuredindependentlyoflatitudeandhostguild
AT gripenbergs antagonisticinteractionnetworksarestructuredindependentlyoflatitudeandhostguild
AT lewiso antagonisticinteractionnetworksarestructuredindependentlyoflatitudeandhostguild
AT roslint antagonisticinteractionnetworksarestructuredindependentlyoflatitudeandhostguild