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Network Biology, 2017, 7(2): 21-32
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Article

Exotic species and the structure of a plant-galling network

Walter Santos de Araujo1, Julio Miguel Grandez-Rios2, Leonardo Lima Bergamini3, Jan Kollar4
1Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, 39401-089, Montes Claros, Brazil
2Center for International Forestry Research, 1895, Lima, Peru
3Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Goias, 74001-970, Goiania, Brazil
4Department of Planting Design and Maintenance, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, 949-76, Nitra, Slovakia

Received 1 February 2017;Accepted 7 March 2017;Published 1 June 2017
IAEES

Abstract
Gall-inducing insects are highly specialized herbivores and is expected that networks composed by gall-inducing insects and their host plants are also very specialized. However, presence of exotic species might reduce the interaction number for native species, which would lead to changes in the specialization of plant-galling networks. In this study, we use network metrics to describe, for the first time, the structure of a network of gall-inducing insects associated to ornamental host plants. We found that the plant-galling network has a low-connected structure and is more modular than expected by chance. Native insect herbivores were significantly more frequent on native host plant species, while exotic herbivores occurred mostly on exotic host plant species. On the other hand, the number of interactions between insect herbivores and native or exotic plant species did not vary. Our findings show that plant-galling networks are very specialized and structured independently of exotic species presence.

Keywords alien hosts;exotic herbivores;herbivory;network ecology.


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