The organisation of Mutualistic Ecosystems: Phylogenetic Proximity and Nestedness

ROBERTO PERAZZO; LAURA HERNÁNDEZ; HORACIO CEVA; ENRIQUE BURGOS; JOSE IGNACIO ALVAREZ HAMELIN

Bruselas

Conferencia; ECCS - European Confrence in Complex Systems 2012; 2012

The Complex Systems Society

In this work we investigate how the pattern of contacts between species in mutualistic ecosys-tems is affected by the phylogenetic proximity between the species of each guild. We study statistical parameters to describe correlations between nestedness and phylogenetic proximity and we develop a dynamical model geared to establish the role of such proximity in the emergence of a nested pattern of contacts. We conclude that although phylogenetic proximity is compatible with nestedness it can not be claimed to be the major cause of it. We find that nestedness could instead be attributed to a general rule by which species tend to hold contacts with counterparts that already have a large number of contacts. If the phylogenetic structure of both guilds is brought into the analysis, this rule is equivalent to maximize the phylogenetic diversity of the mutualistic counterparts of species of either guild.