Publicação
Impacts of the invasive Acacia dealbata on the communities of seed-predator insects: An ecological network approach
| Resumo: | Biological invasions are a leading driver of biodiversity loss, and quantifying their impacts is essential for effective management. Ecological networks offer a powerful framework to evaluate community-level change, including poorly assessed indirect multi‑trophic effects. Furthermore, they hold strong potential for informing classical biological control planning and post‑release monitoring. Acacia dealbata is among the most damaging invaders in Portugal and is a current target for classical biological control, using pre-release seed-feeding insects. Here, using a large-scale fruit sampling design across multiple habitats, we assessed how A. dealbata reshapes plants, pre-dispersal seed-predator insects, and their parasitoids across a broad invasion gradient. We quantified α- and β‑diversity and reconstructed replicated bipartite and tripartite networks, across invasion levels.Our results show that increasing A. dealbata invasion leads to the reduction of plants seed‑predator, and parasitoid diversity. Additionally, this invader restructures the architecture and stability of ecological interactions, simplifying the ecological network structure that binds these trophic levels. We observed that the persistence of high specialization under conditions of network contraction emerges as a key mechanism underlying increased vulnerability to secondary extinctions. Importantly, the pre-release baseline established here provides a critical reference for assessing the ecological consequences of future biological control efforts and highlights the value of network-based approaches for understanding and managing biological invasions. |
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| Autores principais: | Costa, Duarte Resende |
| Assunto: | Acacia dealbata biological invasions ecological networks seed‑predators biological control Acacia dealbata invasões biológicas redes ecológicas insetos predadores de sementes controlo biológico |
| Ano: | 2026 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso embargado |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade de Coimbra |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Estudo Geral - Universidade de Coimbra |
| Resumo: | Biological invasions are a leading driver of biodiversity loss, and quantifying their impacts is essential for effective management. Ecological networks offer a powerful framework to evaluate community-level change, including poorly assessed indirect multi‑trophic effects. Furthermore, they hold strong potential for informing classical biological control planning and post‑release monitoring. Acacia dealbata is among the most damaging invaders in Portugal and is a current target for classical biological control, using pre-release seed-feeding insects. Here, using a large-scale fruit sampling design across multiple habitats, we assessed how A. dealbata reshapes plants, pre-dispersal seed-predator insects, and their parasitoids across a broad invasion gradient. We quantified α- and β‑diversity and reconstructed replicated bipartite and tripartite networks, across invasion levels.Our results show that increasing A. dealbata invasion leads to the reduction of plants seed‑predator, and parasitoid diversity. Additionally, this invader restructures the architecture and stability of ecological interactions, simplifying the ecological network structure that binds these trophic levels. We observed that the persistence of high specialization under conditions of network contraction emerges as a key mechanism underlying increased vulnerability to secondary extinctions. Importantly, the pre-release baseline established here provides a critical reference for assessing the ecological consequences of future biological control efforts and highlights the value of network-based approaches for understanding and managing biological invasions. |
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