The mutual dependencies of many plant species and their pollinators mean that the negative effects of climate change are exacerbated.
The mutual dependencies of many plant species and their pollinators mean that the negative effects of climate change are exacerbated. As UZH researchers show, the total number of species threatened with extinction is therefore considerably higher than predicted in previous models.
Global climate change is threatening biodiversity. To predict the fate of species, ecologists use climatic models that consider individual species in isolation. This type of model, however, overlooks the fact that species are part of a giant network of mutual dependencies: For example, plants need insects to disperse their pollen and, in turn, insects depend on plants for food.
Seven pollination networks in Europe investigated
These types of mutually beneficial interactions have been very important in generating the diversity of life on Earth. But the interaction also has a negative knock-on effect when the extinction of one species causes other species that are dependent on it to also die out, an effect that is called co-extinction. Evolutionary biologists at the University of Zurich, together with ecologists from Spain, Great Britain and Chile, have now quantified how much more of an impact climate change has on biodiversity when these mutual dependencies between the species are taken into account. To this end, the researcher team analyzed the networks between flowering plants and their insect pollinators in seven different regions of Europe.
Read more at University of Zurich
