Publications by Colleges and Departments (MSU - Bozeman)
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/3
Browse
3 results
Search Results
Item Wildfire severity alters drivers of interaction beta-diversity in plant–bee networks(Wiley, 2022-01) Burkle, Laura A.; Belote, R. Travis; Myers, Jonathan A.Spatial variation in species interactions (interaction β-diversity) and its ecological drivers are poorly understood, despite their relevance to community assembly, conservation and ecosystem functioning. We investigated effects of wildfire severity on patterns and four proximate ecological drivers of interaction β-diversity in plant–bee communities across three localities in the northern Rocky Mountains (Montana, USA). Wildfires decreased interaction β-diversity but increased interaction frequency (number of visits) and richness (number of links). After controlling for interaction frequency and richness, standardized effect sizes of interaction β-diversity were highest following mixed-severity wildfires, intermediate following high-severity wildfires and lowest in unburned landscapes, suggesting that wildfire increases spatial aggregation of plant–bee interactions. Moreover, higher effect sizes in burned landscapes were largely determined by turnover in the species composition of both trophic levels rather than by interaction rewiring (spatial turnover in local species interactions not due to species turnover). The underrepresented level of rewiring indicated spatial consistency in post-disturbance patterns of interactions among co-occurring species. Together, our findings suggest that wildfire alters the β-diversity of mutualistic species interactions via linked assembly of plant–bee communities and provide insights into how environmental change alters complex networks of species interactions.Item Salvage logging management affects species' roles in connecting plant–pollinator interaction networks across post‐wildfire landscapes(Wiley, 2021-08) Burkle, Laura A.; Heil, Laura J.; Belote, R. TravisSpatial connections between habitats are important to allow movement of organisms across heterogeneous landscapes with diverse disturbances and management. Similarly, species providing functional connections between subnetworks of species interactions (modules) are important for ecosystem services across these landscapes. These functional connectors have received less study. In post-wildfire landscapes, we investigated the influence of salvage logging, a common management technique, on plant–pollinator network modularity. We measured the composition, strength and characteristics of forb and bee connector species across spatial and temporal scales. Salvage logging influenced the structure of plant–pollinator interaction networks. Network modularity was higher in salvage- logged areas compared to unlogged areas, indicating that logging functionally fragmented these species interactions. There were compositional differences in connectors, especially of plants, be-tween logged and unlogged areas. Plant species, but not bee species, had weaker connections across modules in salvage- logged areas, suggesting that although some plant species were serving as connectors after salvage logging, they were performing worse in this role. While some suites of species formed spatial connections, others formed temporal connections (linking interactions across the growing season), indicating that disparate groups of species are likely needed to provide these critical functions across space and time. Synthesis and applications. Investigating species’ roles as connectors can provide a more complete understanding of the implications of management and provide insight into how best to conserve or restore the structure and function of species interactions across landscape mosaics. Bees may be more capable of readily responding to changes in their plant partner's spatial or temporal distributions due to salvage logging. As a result, bees may be better poised to maintain stable connections across modules compared to plants, and management actions supporting highly mobile connector species (like bees) may help offset detrimental effects of salvage logging or other disturbances. This work also indicates that minimizing the spatial extent of salvage logging relative to the proximity of other habitat types will likely aid species in forming spatial connections. Applying this framework of species as network connectors may help maintain the spatial and temporal continuity of floral resources and pollination services, even when management reduces biodiversity.Item Wildfires Influence Abundance, Diversity, and Intraspecific and Interspecific Trait Variation of Native Bees and Flowering Plants Across Burned and Unburned Landscapes(2019-07) Burkle, Laura A.; Simanonok, Michael P.; Durney, J. Simone; Myers, Jonathan; Belote, R. TravisWildfire regimes are changing in the western United States, yet the ways in which wildfires influence native bees, the resources they depend on for food and nesting, or the traits that influence their interactions with plants are poorly understood. In burned and unburned areas in Montana, USA, we investigated the abundance and diversity of native bees, floral and nesting resources, nesting success, and traits of flowers and bees. In two of the three localities studied, burned areas, including areas that burned with high-severity wildfires, supported higher density and diversity of native bees and the flowers they depend on for food and larval provisioning. Burned areas also had more bare ground for ground-nesting bees and more available coarse woody debris for cavity-nesting bees than unburned areas. Moreover, cavity-nesting bees were completely unsuccessful at nesting in artificial nesting boxes in unburned areas, while nesting success was 40% in burned areas. Mean bee intertegular distance (a trait strongly correlated with tongue length, foraging distance, and body size) was similar between burned and unburned areas. However, wildfires influenced both interspecific and intraspecific trait variation of bees and plants. Intraspecific variation in bee intertegular distance was higher in unburned than burned areas. Both interspecific and intraspecific variation in floral traits important for interactions with pollinators were generally higher in burned than unburned areas. Thus, wildfires generally increased the density and species diversity of bees and flowers as well as trait variation at both trophic levels. We conclude that wildfires—even large, high-severity wildfires—create conditions that support native bees and the resources they need to flourish, but that unburned areas maintain trait variation in landscape mosaics with heterogeneous fire conditions.