Ecological interactions are complex and influenced by historical, ecological, and anthropogenic factors. In mutualistic networks, extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) drive ant–plant interactions, and network structure depends on the ecological flexibility and degree of generalization of the species involved. We evaluated whether plant and ant diversity and topological descriptors, at both network and plant-species levels, differ between networks with and without EFNs and between conservation levels of Neotropical savannas, considering total ants (arboreal and non-arboreal) and only arboreal ants. We sampled six remnants of Neotropical savannas (cerrado sensu stricto) in the Brazilian Cerrado, three preserved and three disturbed. In total, we analyzed 24 interaction networks, involving 45 plant species, 51 ant species, and 358 distinct interactions. Plants without EFNs were richer and more abundant, and nestedness was the only descriptor that varied, being higher in preserved areas (for total ants) and in networks with EFNs (for arboreal ants). In addition, EFN-bearing species showed higher degree, betweenness centrality and closeness centrality. EFN-mediated interactions play a stabilizing role in ant–plant networks, particularly in preserved areas, and maintaining EFN-bearing plant species may promote interaction redundancy and functional resilience in human-impacted savannas.
Oliveira et al. (Sun,) studied this question.
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