Regensburg 2022 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 12: Poster 2

BP 12.64: Poster

Tuesday, September 6, 2022, 17:30–19:30, P4

Assembly of plant-pollinator networks with rare and common plants — •Luca Schäfer, Lara Becker, and Barbara Drossel — TU Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

Species interaction networks are subject to natural and anthropogenic disturbances that lead to their disassembly, while natural regeneration or restoration efforts facilitate their reassembly. Since over 90% of all angiosperms are pollinated by animals, understanding the stability and assembly of plant-pollinator networks is crucial for ecosystem conservation.

We introduce and investigate a model for the assembly of plant-pollinator networks from an infinite species pool, based on trait-matching between plants and animals. Population dynamics equations include different intraspecific competition strengths and niche width, to allow for the occurrence of rare (high intraspecific competition and small niche width) and common plants. We show that computer simulations of the model lead to the emergence of plant-pollinator networks where rare plants can persist despite the effect of pollen dilution. Over time, pollinators become more specialized, but this trend is stopped if stochasticity in the form of demographic noise is taken into account.