Correlated loss of ecosystem services in coupled mutualistic networks

Jörg Albrecht (), Dana Gertrud Berens, Bogdan Jaroszewicz, Nuria Selva, Roland Brandl and Nina Farwig
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Jörg Albrecht: Faculty of Biology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Street 8
Dana Gertrud Berens: Faculty of Biology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Street 8
Bogdan Jaroszewicz: Białowieża Geobotanical Station, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Sportowa 19
Nuria Selva: Institute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Mickiewicza 33
Roland Brandl: Faculty of Biology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Street 8
Nina Farwig: Faculty of Biology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Street 8

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Networks of species interactions promote biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services. These networks have traditionally been studied in isolation, but species are commonly involved in multiple, diverse types of interaction. Therefore, whether different types of species interaction networks coupled through shared species show idiosyncratic or correlated responses to habitat degradation is unresolved. Here we study the collective response of coupled mutualistic networks of plants and their pollinators and seed dispersers to the degradation of Europe’s last relict of old-growth lowland forest (Białowieża, Poland). We show that logging of old-growth forests has correlated effects on the number of partners and interactions of plants in both mutualisms, and that these effects are mediated by shifts in plant densities on logged sites. These results suggest bottom-up-controlled effects of habitat degradation on plant–animal mutualistic networks, and predict that the conversion of primary old-growth forests to secondary habitats may cause a parallel loss of multiple animal-mediated ecosystem services.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4810

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