Specialization of mutualistic interaction networks decreases toward tropical latitudes

Matthias Schleuning; Jochen Fründ; Alexandra-Maria Klein; Stefan Abrahamczyk; Ruben Alarcón; Matthias Albrecht; Georg K.S. Andersson; Simone Bazarian; Katrin Böhning-Gaese; Riccardo Bommarco; Bo Dalsgaard; D. Matthias Dehling; Ariella Gotlieb; Melanie Hagen; Thomas Hickler; Andrea Holzschuh; Christopher Kaiser-Bunbury; Holger Kreft; Rebecca J. Morris; Brody Steven Sandel; William J. Sutherland; Jens-Christian Svenning; Teja Tscharntke; Stella Watts; Christiane N. Weiner; Michael Werner; Neal M. Williams; Camilla Winqvist; Carsten F. Dormann; Nico Blüthgen

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.08.015

Specialization of mutualistic interaction networks decreases toward tropical latitudes

Matthias Schleuning, Jochen Fründ, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Stefan Abrahamczyk, Ruben Alarcón, Matthias Albrecht, Georg K.S. Andersson, Simone Bazarian, Katrin Böhning-Gaese, Riccardo Bommarco, Bo Dalsgaard, D. Matthias Dehling, Ariella Gotlieb, Melanie Hagen, Thomas Hickler, Andrea Holzschuh, Christopher Kaiser-Bunbury, Holger Kreft, Rebecca J. Morris, Brody Steven SandelWilliam J. Sutherland, Jens-Christian Svenning, Teja Tscharntke, Stella Watts, Christiane N. Weiner, Michael Werner, Neal M. Williams, Camilla Winqvist, Carsten F. Dormann, Nico Blüthgen

Ecology and Evolution

195 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Species-rich tropical communities are expected to be more specialized than their temperate counterparts [1-3]. Several studies have reported increasing biotic specialization toward the tropics [4-7], whereas others have not found latitudinal trends once accounting for sampling bias [8, 9] or differences in plant diversity [10, 11]. Thus, the direction of the latitudinal specialization gradient remains contentious. With an unprecedented global data set, we investigated how biotic specialization between plants and animal pollinators or seed dispersers is associated with latitude, past and contemporary climate, and plant diversity. We show that in contrast to expectation, biotic specialization of mutualistic networks is significantly lower at tropical than at temperate latitudes. Specialization was more closely related to contemporary climate than to past climate stability, suggesting that current conditions have a stronger effect on biotic specialization than historical community stability. Biotic specialization decreased with increasing local and regional plant diversity. This suggests that high specialization of mutualistic interactions is a response of pollinators and seed dispersers to low plant diversity. This could explain why the latitudinal specialization gradient is reversed relative to the latitudinal diversity gradient. Low mutualistic network specialization in the tropics suggests higher tolerance against extinctions in tropical than in temperate communities.

Original language	English
Journal	Current Biology
Volume	22
Issue number	20
Pages (from-to)	1925–1931
Number of pages	7
ISSN	0960-9822
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.08.015
Publication status	Published - 23 Oct 2012

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http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982212009438

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Schleuning, M., Fründ, J., Klein, A-M., Abrahamczyk, S., Alarcón, R., Albrecht, M., Andersson, G. K. S., Bazarian, S., Böhning-Gaese, K., Bommarco, R., Dalsgaard, B., Dehling, D. M., Gotlieb, A., Hagen, M., Hickler, T., Holzschuh, A., Kaiser-Bunbury, C., Kreft, H., Morris, R. J., ... Blüthgen, N. (2012). Specialization of mutualistic interaction networks decreases toward tropical latitudes. Current Biology, 22(20), 1925–1931. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.08.015

Schleuning, M, Fründ, J, Klein, A-M, Abrahamczyk, S, Alarcón, R, Albrecht, M, Andersson, GKS, Bazarian, S, Böhning-Gaese, K, Bommarco, R, Dalsgaard, B, Dehling, DM, Gotlieb, A, Hagen, M, Hickler, T, Holzschuh, A, Kaiser-Bunbury, C, Kreft, H, Morris, RJ, Sandel, BS, Sutherland, WJ, Svenning, J-C, Tscharntke, T, Watts, S, Weiner, CN, Werner, M, Williams, NM, Winqvist, C, Dormann, CF & Blüthgen, N 2012, 'Specialization of mutualistic interaction networks decreases toward tropical latitudes', Current Biology, vol. 22, no. 20, pp. 1925–1931. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.08.015

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title = "Specialization of mutualistic interaction networks decreases toward tropical latitudes",

abstract = "Species-rich tropical communities are expected to be more specialized than their temperate counterparts [1-3]. Several studies have reported increasing biotic specialization toward the tropics [4-7], whereas others have not found latitudinal trends once accounting for sampling bias [8, 9] or differences in plant diversity [10, 11]. Thus, the direction of the latitudinal specialization gradient remains contentious. With an unprecedented global data set, we investigated how biotic specialization between plants and animal pollinators or seed dispersers is associated with latitude, past and contemporary climate, and plant diversity. We show that in contrast to expectation, biotic specialization of mutualistic networks is significantly lower at tropical than at temperate latitudes. Specialization was more closely related to contemporary climate than to past climate stability, suggesting that current conditions have a stronger effect on biotic specialization than historical community stability. Biotic specialization decreased with increasing local and regional plant diversity. This suggests that high specialization of mutualistic interactions is a response of pollinators and seed dispersers to low plant diversity. This could explain why the latitudinal specialization gradient is reversed relative to the latitudinal diversity gradient. Low mutualistic network specialization in the tropics suggests higher tolerance against extinctions in tropical than in temperate communities.",

author = "Matthias Schleuning and Jochen Fr{\"u}nd and Alexandra-Maria Klein and Stefan Abrahamczyk and Ruben Alarc{\'o}n and Matthias Albrecht and Andersson, {Georg K.S.} and Simone Bazarian and Katrin B{\"o}hning-Gaese and Riccardo Bommarco and Bo Dalsgaard and Dehling, {D. Matthias} and Ariella Gotlieb and Melanie Hagen and Thomas Hickler and Andrea Holzschuh and Christopher Kaiser-Bunbury and Holger Kreft and Morris, {Rebecca J.} and Sandel, {Brody Steven} and Sutherland, {William J.} and Jens-Christian Svenning and Teja Tscharntke and Stella Watts and Weiner, {Christiane N.} and Michael Werner and Williams, {Neal M.} and Camilla Winqvist and Dormann, {Carsten F.} and Nico Bl{\"u}thgen",

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AU - Schleuning, Matthias

AU - Fründ, Jochen

AU - Klein, Alexandra-Maria

AU - Abrahamczyk, Stefan

AU - Alarcón, Ruben

AU - Albrecht, Matthias

AU - Andersson, Georg K.S.

AU - Bazarian, Simone

AU - Böhning-Gaese, Katrin

AU - Bommarco, Riccardo

AU - Dalsgaard, Bo

AU - Dehling, D. Matthias

AU - Gotlieb, Ariella

AU - Hagen, Melanie

AU - Hickler, Thomas

AU - Holzschuh, Andrea

AU - Kaiser-Bunbury, Christopher

AU - Kreft, Holger

AU - Morris, Rebecca J.

AU - Sandel, Brody Steven

AU - Sutherland, William J.

AU - Svenning, Jens-Christian

AU - Tscharntke, Teja

AU - Watts, Stella

AU - Weiner, Christiane N.

AU - Werner, Michael

AU - Williams, Neal M.

AU - Winqvist, Camilla

AU - Dormann, Carsten F.

AU - Blüthgen, Nico

PY - 2012/10/23

Y1 - 2012/10/23

N2 - Species-rich tropical communities are expected to be more specialized than their temperate counterparts [1-3]. Several studies have reported increasing biotic specialization toward the tropics [4-7], whereas others have not found latitudinal trends once accounting for sampling bias [8, 9] or differences in plant diversity [10, 11]. Thus, the direction of the latitudinal specialization gradient remains contentious. With an unprecedented global data set, we investigated how biotic specialization between plants and animal pollinators or seed dispersers is associated with latitude, past and contemporary climate, and plant diversity. We show that in contrast to expectation, biotic specialization of mutualistic networks is significantly lower at tropical than at temperate latitudes. Specialization was more closely related to contemporary climate than to past climate stability, suggesting that current conditions have a stronger effect on biotic specialization than historical community stability. Biotic specialization decreased with increasing local and regional plant diversity. This suggests that high specialization of mutualistic interactions is a response of pollinators and seed dispersers to low plant diversity. This could explain why the latitudinal specialization gradient is reversed relative to the latitudinal diversity gradient. Low mutualistic network specialization in the tropics suggests higher tolerance against extinctions in tropical than in temperate communities.

AB - Species-rich tropical communities are expected to be more specialized than their temperate counterparts [1-3]. Several studies have reported increasing biotic specialization toward the tropics [4-7], whereas others have not found latitudinal trends once accounting for sampling bias [8, 9] or differences in plant diversity [10, 11]. Thus, the direction of the latitudinal specialization gradient remains contentious. With an unprecedented global data set, we investigated how biotic specialization between plants and animal pollinators or seed dispersers is associated with latitude, past and contemporary climate, and plant diversity. We show that in contrast to expectation, biotic specialization of mutualistic networks is significantly lower at tropical than at temperate latitudes. Specialization was more closely related to contemporary climate than to past climate stability, suggesting that current conditions have a stronger effect on biotic specialization than historical community stability. Biotic specialization decreased with increasing local and regional plant diversity. This suggests that high specialization of mutualistic interactions is a response of pollinators and seed dispersers to low plant diversity. This could explain why the latitudinal specialization gradient is reversed relative to the latitudinal diversity gradient. Low mutualistic network specialization in the tropics suggests higher tolerance against extinctions in tropical than in temperate communities.

U2 - 10.1016/j.cub.2012.08.015

DO - 10.1016/j.cub.2012.08.015

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 22981771

SN - 0960-9822

VL - 22

SP - 1925

EP - 1931

JO - Current Biology

JF - Current Biology

IS - 20

ER -

Specialization of mutualistic interaction networks decreases toward tropical latitudes

Abstract

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