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Made available in DSpace on 2022-04-28T19:49:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2022-01-01
Larger geographical areas contain more species—an observation raised to a law in ecology. Less explored is whether biodiversity changes are accompanied by a modification of interaction networks. We use data from 32 spatial interaction networks from different ecosystems to analyse how network structure changes with area. We find that basic community structure descriptors (number of species, links and links per species) increase with area following a power law. Yet, the distribution of links per species varies little with area, indicating that the fundamental organization of interactions within networks is conserved. Our null model analyses suggest that the spatial scaling of network structure is determined by factors beyond species richness and the number of links. We demonstrate that biodiversity–area relationships can be extended from species counts to higher levels of network complexity. Therefore, the consequences of anthropogenic habitat destruction may extend from species loss to wider simplification of natural communities.
Centre for Biodiversity Theory and Modelling Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station CNRS
Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Department of Biosciences Swansea University
Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture Environment and Development University of Évora
CREAF Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès)
Institute for Multidisciplinary Plant Biology (IMBIV) Faculty of Exact Physical and Natural Sciences National University of Cordoba and CONICET
Department of Integrative Biology University of Guelph
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès)
Departament of Ecology Institute of Bioscience São Paulo State University (UNESP) CP 199
Departament of Botany University of Pernambuco (UFPE) CP 199
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Toronto
Ecology of Tropical Agricultural Systems University of Hohenheim
Department of Animal Ecology Justus Liebig University Giessen
Department of Biology Memorial University of Newfoundland
Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3)
IKERBASQUE Basque Foundation for Science
Department of Biological Geological and Environmental Sciences University of Catania
Departamento de Ecología de la Biodiversidad Instituto de Ecología Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology Biocenter University of Würzburg Am Hubland
Global Change Research Group Inst. Mediterrani d’Estudis Avançats (CSIC-UIB)
Evolution of Technology Laboratory Institute of Evolutionary Biology CSIC–Universitat Pompeu Fabra
European Centre for Living Technology
Argentine Institute for Dryland Research CONICET and National University of Cuyo
Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences National University of Cuyo
eScience Institute University of Washington
Département de Biologie Université de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke
Department of Ecology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Department of Agricultural Sciences University of Helsinki
Univ. Grenoble Alpes Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc CNRS LECA
Departament of Ecology Institute of Bioscience São Paulo State University (UNESP) CP 199
