This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2008. The fellowship supports a research and training plan entitled "Understanding the relationship between the web of species interactions and the coexistence of species in a plant-pollinator community" for Suann Yang. The host institution for this research is Pennsylvania State University and the sponsoring scientists are Dr. Katriona Shea and Dr. Reka Albert.
The structure of the links between dependent interacting species can provide clues to the resilience of a community to extinctions, but less well understood is how this structure may shape a community as new species are added, either through natural processes of colonization or human-aided invasion. This research is focusing on how the network structure of links between plants and pollinators influences community assembly, or the colonization and extinction of species. In turn, this species change over time may alter the structure of the interactions within the community. This feedback will be studied by developing simulation models of community assembly (using data from real plant-pollinator systems), while tracking the changes in the interaction structure as species are added or go extinct.
Training objectives of this research are in network theory and simulation modeling. The broader impacts have conservation significance. Much of the world's change in biodiversity is due to human-caused local and widespread extinction; and this may cause ripple effects across a community as species interaction links are disrupted. Understanding how different species are linked to their communities will allow scientists to assist policy makers in appropriate conservation management for their maintenance and restoration.
