Tell me who you interact with, and I will tell you if you survive.

One of the challenges in ecology is understanding when and how species can persist in an ecosystem. A clear example is the growing concern for pollinator populations, in rapid decline. On one hand, various field studies show certain correlations between the persistence of pollinator species and habitat characteristics, such as the observation that larger habitat patches stably host more species. On the other hand, various ecological theories have proposed specific mechanisms that could be responsible for providing stability to ecosystems. For example, the networks of interactions formed by different species regulate their populations. However, it is not always easy to validate these ecological theories with empirical data. In this study, we wanted to determine if the structure of interactions between plants and pollinators can predict the stability of their populations. There are numerous theoretical works suggesting that such a relationship should exist, but do these models have predictive value in natural systems? Using data collected over six years of fieldwork, during which both the structure of the interaction network and the persistence of different pollinator species over time were measured, we found that theoretical models adequately predict species persistence. This allows us to validate that the structure of interactions between plants and pollinators defines their stability. In fact, in larger habitat patches, species form more nested structures (i.e., a structure of interactions where specialist species interact only with generalists, but the generalists also interact among themselves), which gives them more stability against disturbances, reconciling correlational observations with theoretical mechanisms. Understanding and validating these mechanisms is the first step to predicting the future of pollinators and implementing conservation measures in advance.


Read the full study here:

Domínguez-Garcia, V., Molina, F.P., Godoy, O. et al. Interaction network structure explains species’ temporal persistence in empirical plant–pollinator communities. Nat Ecol Evol 8, 423–429 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02314-3


Text written by Ignasi Bartomeus and edited by Clara Ruiz and Félix Picazo