Spatial networks in ecology (Redes espaciales en ecología)

• Autores: Miguel Angel Fortuna Alcolado
• Directores de la Tesis: Jordi Bascompte (dir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universidad de Sevilla ( España ) en 2008
• Idioma: español
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Juan Arroyo Marín (presid.), Miguel Angel Rodriguez Fernandez (secret.), Diego Jordano Barbudo (voc.), Abelardo Aparicio Martínez (voc.), Bartolome Luque Serrano (voc.)
• Materias:
  • Ciencias de la vida
    • Biología animal (zoología)
      • Ecología animal
    • Antropología (física)
      • Biología de poblaciones
    • Biología vegetal (botánica)
      • Ecología vegetal
  • Sociología
    • Sociología de los asentamientos humanos
      • Estudios de comunidad
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en: TESEO
• Resumen

  • Spatial networks are an approach for understanding the spatial complexity that we observe in nature. Space is the last frontier in ecological research. Lots of important questions such as species extinction in fragmented landscapes or the efficacy of marine reserves depend on a spatial representation of ecological processes. In this thesis I will show how a network approach can be useful as a tool for the conservation and management of endangered species. Specifically, I will consider four case studies, namely the persistence of amphibians in stochastic ponds, the network of roosting sites used by a bat species, the mating network of an insect-pollinated tree, and the networks of genetic landscape of several plant species . Using these case studies, I will illustrate how the network approach can shed light into problems as diverse as species persistence in fluctuating environments, information exchange among individuals in an animal society, and gene flow at a population and community level.

    In all cases we have dealt with only a single species or a few independent species. But at least as important as species are the interactions among them. We must consider biodiversity not just a collection of species but as complex networks of interacting species. Hence, we must again start to think on networks of ecological interactions among species. How can we incorporate species-rich communities on the spatial context in which they live? As a first step, we will see at the end how we have incorporated the structure of plant-animal mutualistic networks into a mean-field spatial network in order to explore the robustness of a metacommunity to habitat loss.