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A Continuum of Specialists and Generalists in Empirical Communities

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  • Timothée Poisot
  • Sonia Kéfi
  • Serge Morand
  • Michal Stanko
  • Pablo A Marquet
  • Michael E Hochberg

Abstract

Understanding the persistence of specialists and generalists within ecological communities is a topical research question, with far-reaching consequences for the maintenance of functional diversity. Although theoretical studies indicate that restricted conditions may be necessary to achieve co-occurrence of specialists and generalists, analyses of larger empirical (and species-rich) communities reveal the pervasiveness of coexistence. In this paper, we analyze 175 ecological bipartite networks of three interaction types (animal hosts–parasite, plant–herbivore and plant–pollinator), and measure the extent to which these communities are composed of species with different levels of specificity in their biotic interactions. We find a continuum from specialism to generalism. Furthermore, we demonstrate that diversity tends to be greatest in networks with intermediate connectance, and argue this is because of physical constraints in the filling of networks.

Suggested Citation

  • Timothée Poisot & Sonia Kéfi & Serge Morand & Michal Stanko & Pablo A Marquet & Michael E Hochberg, 2015. "A Continuum of Specialists and Generalists in Empirical Communities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-12, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0114674
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0114674
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    2. Sonja B. Otto & Björn C. Rall & Ulrich Brose, 2007. "Allometric degree distributions facilitate food-web stability," Nature, Nature, vol. 450(7173), pages 1226-1229, December.
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    1. Floriane Jacquemin & Cyrille Violle & François Munoz & Grégory Mahy & Pierre Rasmont & Stuart P M Roberts & Sarah Vray & Marc Dufrêne, 2020. "Loss of pollinator specialization revealed by historical opportunistic data: Insights from network-based analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-18, July.
    2. M Umut Caglar & Adam J Hockenberry & Claus O Wilke, 2018. "Predicting bacterial growth conditions from mRNA and protein abundances," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(11), pages 1-22, November.

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