title: Linking species functional roles to their network roles.
abstract: Species roles in ecological networks combine to generate their architecture, which contributes to their stability. Species trait diversity also affects ecosystem functioning and resilience, yet it remains unknown whether species' contributions to functional diversity relate to their network roles. Here, we use 21 empirical pollen transport networks to characterise this relationship. We found that, apart from a few abundant species, pollinators with original traits either had few interaction partners or interacted most frequently with a subset of these partners. This suggests that narrowing of interactions to a subset of the plant community accompanies pollinator niche specialisation, congruent with our hypothesised trade-off between having unique traits vs. being able to interact with many mutualist partners. Conversely, these effects were not detected in plants, potentially because key aspects of their flowering traits are conserved at a family level. Relating functional and network roles can provide further insight into mechanisms underlying ecosystem functioning.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Camille
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6346-9194
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Coux
authors.affiliation: Ecosystem Management, School of Environment and Rural Sciences, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2351, Australia.
authors.forename: Romina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rader
authors.affiliation: Dpto. Ecología Integrativa, Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Avda. Américo Vespucio s/n, Isla de la Cartuja, Sevilla, 41092, Spain.
authors.forename: Ignasi
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7893-4389
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bartomeus
authors.affiliation: Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand.|Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 7PY, UK.
authors.forename: Jason M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Tylianakis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004463:Ecology / Q000379:methods; D017753:Ecosystem; D007313:Insecta; D008954:Models, Biological; D009520:New Zealand; D010944:Plants; D011058:Pollen / Q000502:physiology; D054817:Pollination; D013559:Symbiosis
keywords: Biodiversity; ecosystem functioning; interaction; mutualistic network; resilience; stability; web