Dissertation Research: Testing for Generalities in Mutualistic Networks: The Role of Specialization in Plant-Pollinator Community Structure and Stability

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Knowledge of species interactions is crucial to understanding the origins and persistence of biodiversity as organisms are not isolated in nature but are rather part of complex communities. Recent studies suggest that plant-pollinator communities have a universal type of structural organization that is determined by the degree of mutual dependency and specialization of interactions among their members. However, since community composition is contingent upon overall species diversity, among other factors that vary across latitudes, plant-pollinator communities likely yield different structures in distinct geographic regions. This study focuses on a tropical plant-pollinator community in the Brazilian Cerrado, one of the most diverse and endangered tropical ecosystems in the world. High plant diversity and frequent occurrence of specialized pollination systems create an important opportunity for a community-wide analysis of structural organization using a particular approach that treats this community as a network. This structure will then be compared to the universal structure proposed for other plant-pollinator communities, providing an important contrast with previously well studied systems outside the tropics. In addition, field sampling will be conducted both in the wet and dry season, to determine how environmental conditions may affect community structure. The project involves collaboration between South American and North American institutions, training of undergraduate and graduate students in Brazil and the U.S., as well as the identification of keystone species that may have an especially important role in the conservation of plant-pollinator communities in the Cerrado.