Urban environments increase generalization of hummingbird–plant networks across climate gradients

Urbanization has reshaped the distribution of biodiversity on Earth, but we are only beginning to understand its effects on ecological communities. While urbanization may have homogenization effects strong enough to blur the large-scale patterns in interaction networks, urban community patterns may still be associated with climate gradients reflecting large-scale biogeographical processes. Using 103 hummingbird-plant mutualistic networks across continental Americas, including 176 hummingbird and 1,180 plant species, we asked how urbanization affects species interactions over large climate gradients. Urban networks were more generalized, exhibiting greater interaction overlap. Higher generalization was also associated with lower precipitation in both urban and natural areas, indicating that climate affects networks irrespective of habitat type. Urban habitats also showed lower hummingbird functional trait diversity and over/underrepresentation of specific clades. From the plant side, urban communities had a higher prevalence of nonnative nectar plants, which were more frequently visited by the hummingbird species occurring in both urban and natural areas. Therefore, urbanization affected hummingbird-plant interactions through both the composition of species and traits, as well as floral resource availability. Taken together, we show that urbanization consistently modifies ecological communities and their interactions, but climate still plays a role in affecting the structure of these novel communities over the scale of continents.

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Publication Details

Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2024-11-11
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2322347121
Citations
18
Primary Topic
Plant and animal studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
18.52
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article

Urban environments increase generalization of hummingbird–plant networks across climate gradients

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18 citations
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Plant and animal studies
18.52
article

Urban environments increase generalization of hummingbird–plant networks across climate gradients

Camila Silveira Souza, María A. Maglianesi, Mónica B. Ramírez‐Burbano, Ana Maria Rui, Lucilene Brito, Paulo Eugênio Oliveira, Cristiane Estrêla Campodonio Nunes, André Rodrigo Rech, Iván Sazima, Francielle Paulina de Araújo, Caio Graco Machado, Thais B. Zanata, Sergio Montoya-Arango, Juan Luis Parra Vergara, Jéssica Luiza S. Silva, Marı́a del Coro Arizmendi, Caio S. Ballarin, Luis Sandoval, João Carlos Pena, Claudia Isabel Rodríguez-Flores, Rafael de Oliveira, Monique Maianne, João Custódio Fernandes Cardoso, Ubaldo Márquez-Luna, Larissa Lais Silva, Jeferson Vizentin‐Bugoni, Marlies Sazima, Ariadna Valentina Lopes, Pietro K. Maruyama, Vivian Akemi Nakamura, Bruno Magro Rodrigues, Iulia Almeida, Marina Wolowski, Andréa Cardoso Araujo, Manoel Martins Dias, Edvaldo Nunes da Silva Neto, Angélica Vilas Boas da Frota, Rodrigo Mendes, Liliana Rosero Lasprilla, Jonatas Alves Braga Pereira, Ana Caroline Silva Gomes, Mauricio Fernández Otárola, Johana Leguizamón, Leandro Freitas, Juan Fernando Acevedo‐Quintero, Oscar Humberto Marín‐Gómez, Felipe Wanderley Amorim, Camila Bosenbecker, Jesper Sonne, Bo Dalsgaard, Alejandro Restrepo‐González, Paulo Antônio Silva, Venilson Gonçalves Santos, Leandro Hachuy‐Filho, Breno Dias Vitorino, Amanda Graciela Cherutte, Pedro Amaral Anselmo, Sarah Mendonça Rigotto, Jeane Lima-Passos, Carlos Lara, Diego Ruiz, Carolina Figuerêdo Costa, Fernando Ferreira, José Marı́a Mesa, Jorge Fernández Llano, GISELA M.S. ALMEIDA, C. A. Santana, Alejandra Castillo-García, Alice Scheer Iepsen, Maria Cristina Vargas-Espinosa
article en
18 citations

Abstract

Urbanization has reshaped the distribution of biodiversity on Earth, but we are only beginning to understand its effects on ecological communities. While urbanization may have homogenization effects strong enough to blur the large-scale patterns in interaction networks, urban community patterns may still be associated with climate gradients reflecting large-scale biogeographical processes. Using 103 hummingbird-plant mutualistic networks across continental Americas, including 176 hummingbird and 1,180 plant species, we asked how urbanization affects species interactions over large climate gradients. Urban networks were more generalized, exhibiting greater interaction overlap. Higher generalization was also associated with lower precipitation in both urban and natural areas, indicating that climate affects networks irrespective of habitat type. Urban habitats also showed lower hummingbird functional trait diversity and over/underrepresentation of specific clades. From the plant side, urban communities had a higher prevalence of nonnative nectar plants, which were more frequently visited by the hummingbird species occurring in both urban and natural areas. Therefore, urbanization affected hummingbird-plant interactions through both the composition of species and traits, as well as floral resource availability. Taken together, we show that urbanization consistently modifies ecological communities and their interactions, but climate still plays a role in affecting the structure of these novel communities over the scale of continents.

Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesVol. 121(48)
Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (BR), Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (BR), Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala (MX), Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul (BR), University of Copenhagen (DK), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (BR), University of Quindío (CO), Universidade Federal de Pelotas (BR), Universidade Federal de São Carlos (BR), Universidade de São Paulo (BR), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) (BR), Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana (BR), Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia (CO), Universidade Federal de Alfenas (BR), Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (BR), Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart (DE), Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso (BR), Distance State University (CR), Universidad de Costa Rica (CR), Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso (BR), Universidad de Antioquia (CO), Universidad Nacional de Colombia (CO), Universidade do Oeste Paulista (BR), Universidade Estadual do Rio Grande do Sul (BR), Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri (BR), Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (BR), Fundação Araucária (BR), El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (MX), Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros (BR), Universidade Federal do Paraná (BR), Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (BR), Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) (BR), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX)
Sustainable cities and communities
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Plant and animal studies
18.52
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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