Social insects and the structure of pollination networks

Author(s)

Kate Pereira Maia

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB)
• Defense date: 2014-07-25

Examining board members

Paulo Roberto Guimaraes Junior; Camila de Toledo Castanho; Leonor Patrícia Cerdeira Morellato

• Advisor: Paulo Roberto Guimaraes Junior

Abstract

Mutualisms between plants and pollinators are organized in interaction networks that involve many species. Ultimately, what determines the occurrence of interactions among plants and pollinators are the traits of both groups of species. Social behavior can be a key trait on the organization of interactions between plants and pollinators. Here, we investigated if the presence of pollinators with social behavior in pollination networks is associated to different structural patterns, and if pollinators with increasing levels of complexity in social behavior are more important for network structure. We found that the presence of social pollinator species does not affect the structure of pollination networks. We also found that species with social behavior are, on average, more important for network structure than solitary species. Our results reinforce past studies that suggested that the structure of mutualistic networks has invariant structural properties. Our results also suggest that the more prominent role occupied by pollinators with social behavior is associated to these species\' large abundances. Including natural history information about species and about species interactions on the study of ecological networks will allow us to make more assertive inferences on the functional roles species occupy in ecological communities (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/15754-5 - Eusocial insects and the structure of pollination networks
• Grantee: Kate Pereira Maia
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master