Comparing sampling methods for studying interaction networks between frugivorous birds and plants

• Grant number: 20/05237-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2020
• End date: September 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Marco Aurelio Pizo Ferreira
• Grantee: Rodrigo Borges Missano
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The study of ecological networks has helped to understand how biotic interactions influence the structure and organization of communities. The choice of the method for sampling interactions is important given its influence on the structure of ecological networks. Sampling of interactions involving frugivorous birds and their food plants has been based on three main methods: mist nets, linear transects and focal observations. Most field studies for collecting interactions do not inform the sampling effort employed and there are no studies that assess how the use of different methods influences the structuring and completeness of ecological frugivory networks. The objective of this project is to test how different methods of sampling interactions between plants and frugivorous birds influence the formation of frugivory networks through structural metrics and null models widely used in the current literature. We hope that the transect method allows for a greater number of interactions and species in relation to its sampling effort followed by focal observations and mist nets, resulting in respectively more complete networks. Regarding network metrics, we expect that I) transects will result in a significantly structured network with low interconnection, intermediate nesting and modularity, while (II) focal observations will result in networks with high connectivity, high nesting and non-modular and , finally, (III) mist nets will have moderate connectivity, little nested and highly modular. This comparison will be of great relevance for the study of frugivory interactions and will certainly advance the way we sample ecological networks.