Understanding and planning ecological restoration of plant–pollinator networks
Mariano Devoto,Sallie Bailey,Paul Craze and Jane Memmott
Ecology Letters, Volume 15, Issue 4, pages 319–328, April 2012
It is a fact that theory developed from studying changes in the structure and function of communities during natural or managed succession can give us clues to the restoration of particular communities.
Here the researchers constructed 30 quantitative plant–flower visitor networks along a managed successional gradient to identify the main drivers of change in network structure. They then applied two alternative restoration strategies in silico (restoring for functional complementarity or redundancy) to data from their early successional plots to examine how different strategies changed restoration trajectories.
The researchers explain changes in network structure by a combination of age, tree density and variation in tree diameter, even when variance explained by undergrowth structure was accounted for first. A combination of field data, a network approach and numerical simulations helped the researchers to identify which species should be given restoration priority in the context of different restoration targets.
The researcher says their combined approach provides a powerful tool for directing management decisions, particularly when management seeks to restore or conserve ecosystem function.
Mariano Devoto,Sallie Bailey,Paul Craze and Jane Memmott
Ecology Letters, Volume 15, Issue 4, pages 319–328, April 2012
It is a fact that theory developed from studying changes in the structure and function of communities during natural or managed succession can give us clues to the restoration of particular communities.
Here the researchers constructed 30 quantitative plant–flower visitor networks along a managed successional gradient to identify the main drivers of change in network structure. They then applied two alternative restoration strategies in silico (restoring for functional complementarity or redundancy) to data from their early successional plots to examine how different strategies changed restoration trajectories.
The researchers explain changes in network structure by a combination of age, tree density and variation in tree diameter, even when variance explained by undergrowth structure was accounted for first. A combination of field data, a network approach and numerical simulations helped the researchers to identify which species should be given restoration priority in the context of different restoration targets.
The researcher says their combined approach provides a powerful tool for directing management decisions, particularly when management seeks to restore or conserve ecosystem function.
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