The role of phenotypic plasticity in shaping ecological networks |
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Authors: | José M Gómez Adela González-Megías Cristina Armas Eduardo Narbona Luis Navarro Francisco Perfectti |
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Institution: | 1. Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (EEZA-CSIC), Almería, Spain;2. Research Unit Modeling Nature, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain;3. Departamento de Biología Molecular e Ingeniería Bioquímica, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain;4. Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ciencias del Suelo, Universidad de Vigo, Vigo, Spain |
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Abstract: | Plasticity-mediated changes in interaction dynamics and structure may scale up and affect the ecological network in which the plastic species are embedded. Despite their potential relevance for understanding the effects of plasticity on ecological communities, these effects have seldom been analysed. We argue here that, by boosting the magnitude of intra-individual phenotypic variation, plasticity may have three possible direct effects on the interactions that the plastic species maintains with other species in the community: may expand the interaction niche, may cause a shift from one interaction niche to another or may even cause the colonization of a new niche. The combined action of these three factors can scale to the community level and eventually expresses itself as a modification in the topology and functionality of the entire ecological network. We propose that this causal pathway can be more widespread than previously thought and may explain how interaction niches evolve quickly in response to rapid changes in environmental conditions. The implication of this idea is not solely eco-evolutionary but may also help to understand how ecological interactions rewire and evolve in response to global change. |
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Keywords: | ecological network interaction niche interaction strength intraspecific trait variation niche breadth expansion niche shift network plasticity phenotypic plasticity polyphenism |
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