Structure and coevolutionary dynamics in mutualistic networks

Abstract

One of the most central questions in evolutionary ecology is to understand how the evolution of species traits is affected by ecological interactions. Currently, a well-developed set of theories is available to describe how ecological interactions, such as mutualisms, mold and are molded by evolution and coevolution. These theories focus on the study of pairwise interactions. We already know, though, that even the most intimate types of species interactions are affected by other species in a given locality. In fact, most of these interactions involve dozens of species, forming ecological networks. The structure of different types of mutualistic networks has been described through metrics rooted on graph theory and statistical mechanics. However, the description of structural patterns of these networks has just began and we still do not understand how structure and coevolutionary dynamics are related in species networks. In this proposal, I would like to investigate how network structure and coevolution are related in mutualisms. To accomplish this goal, I will combine the approaches derived from network theory, numerical simulations and evolutionary models to ecological data. In a broader context, I expect to contribute to one of the timing topics in evolutionary ecology: the emergence of a theory to describe and predict the structure and coevolutionary dynamics of species networks. (AU)