Evolutionary history and ecological processes shape a local multilevel antagonistic network

Background/Question/Methods

Uncovering the processes that shape the architecture of interaction networks is a major challenge in ecology. Studies have consistently revealed that more closely related taxa tend to show greater overlap in interaction partners, fuelling the idea that interactions are phylogenetically conserved. However, local ecological processes such as exploitative or apparent competition (indirect interactions) might instead cause a decrease in overlap in interacting partners. Because of the taxonomic and geographic coarseness of existing studies, the structuring effect of such processes has been overlooked. Here, we assess the relative importance of phylogeny and ecological processes in a local, highly resolved, four-level antagonistic network.

Results/Conclusions

Across all network levels we consistently find that phylogenetic relatedness among resource species is correlated with consumer overlap but that phylogenetic relatedness among consumer species is not or negatively correlated with resource overlap. This pervasive pattern indicates that the antagonistic network has been shaped by both phylogeny on resource range and by exploitative competition limiting resource overlap among closely related consumer species. Intriguingly, the strength of phylogenetic signal varies in a consistent way across the network levels. We discuss the generality of our findings and their implications in a changing world.