Inferring coevolution in a plant-pollinator network

LOMÁSCOLO, SILVIA B.; GIANNINI, NORBERTO P.; CHACOFF, NATACHA P.; CASTRO-URGAL, R; VÁZQUEZ, DIEGO P.

OIKOS

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2018

0030-1299

Mutualistic interactions are at the core of community dynamics,determining dispersal, colonization, and differential survival and reproductionamong individuals and species. Mutualistic interactions therefore affectinteractant fitness, hence modifying their respective evolutionary trajectoriesreciprocally, potentially leading to coevolution. Although mathematical modelspredict coevolution in mutualistic interaction networks, no empirical data areavailable. We provide evidence that morpho-functional coevolution is detectableand significant at the community level in a plant-pollinator network. Ourresults suggest that high frequency of interaction, i.e., the number of timestwo species interact, leads to coevolution. We also show that symmetry, thereciprocal similarity in the mutual effect of interactants, leads tocoevolution, in spite of a pervasive lack of reciprocal specialization, andhigh interaction frequency. The most specialized species, expected to beunder directional selection, do not show more evolutionary change than dogeneralist species, expected to be under different, perhaps opposing, selectivepressures. Bydissecting the complexity of an interaction network we show that coevolutionpartially shapes functional morphology of interactants, thus providing the closestevidence of mutualistic adaptation of organisms within a community.