Correlated loss of ecosystem services in coupled mutualistic networks

Abstract

Networks of species interactions promote biodiversity and provide important ecosystem services. These networks have traditionally been studied in isolation, but species are commonly involved in multiple, diverse types of interaction. Therefore, whether different types of species interaction networks coupled through shared species show idiosyncratic or correlated responses to habitat degradation is unresolved. Here we study the collective response of coupled mutualistic networks of plants and their pollinators and seed dispersers to the degradation of Europeâ €™ s last relict of old-growth lowland forest (BiaÅ owieÅ 1/4a, Poland). We show that logging of old-growth forests has correlated effects on the number of partners and interactions of plants in both mutualisms, and that these effects are mediated by shifts in plant densities on logged sites. These results suggest bottom-up-controlled effects of habitat degradation on plant-animal mutualistic networks, and predict that the conversion of primary old-growth forests to secondary habitats may cause a parallel loss of multiple animal-mediated ecosystem services. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.