Quinta, 12 de junho às 16 h
Resumo da Palestra: Pairwise plant-animal mutualistic interactions build up into mega-diverse networks involving dozens of interacting species. These mutualisms among free-living species fundamentally consist of food provisioning by plants and, their counterpart, plant propagule (pollen, seeds) movement by the animals. They are based on interaction outcomes serviced by multiple species, so that studies focusing on pairwise interactions in isolation underestimate the levels of biodiversity required to maintain multifunctional networks. Loss of biodiversity in these assemblages entails losses of key functional services that may remain cryptic, i.e., their consequences undetected well after the loss. I explore study cases documenting the extinction of mutualistic interactions, and the loss of associated services that may occur well before the partner species become extinct. In addition, also how addition of interactions (e.g., by invading species) may deconstruct native interaction networks. The combination of direct and passive interaction sampling (e.g., direct census, camera traps) and last-generation sequencing (DNA barcoding) allow to identify species-specific contributions to these mutualisms and estimate both demographic and genetic outcomes of interactions. The functionality of most generalized mutualisms among free-living species relies on complementarity of effects across a high diversity of partners. Disruptions of these mutualisms by anthropogenic drivers may remain subtle and undetected despite being pervasive in many real world ecosystems. The loss of these interactions, frequently occurring well before their plant and animal partners go extinct, generates a type of extinction debt not adequately addressed when biodiversity loss is considered.