NETNOVO · Structure and functioning of novel seed-dispersal networks as a result of climate change

Climate change is altering species distributions across the globe. Because in mutualistic interactions, as the ones between plants and seed dispersing animals, species rely on each other to persist, climate-driven species shifts have been shown to reduce areas of cooccurrence between mutualistic partners, breaking interactions, reducing ecosystem service provision, and causing co-extinction cascades. But so far, we have overlooked the ecological communities that species may face in their new distributions, and the novel ecological networks these communities may form. For instance, seed-dispersal interactions are mediated by species traits, such as the gape width of animals and seed sizes of plants, so that the climate-driven rearrangement of species traits may present new interaction partners, offering novel interaction opportunities through interaction rewiring, ultimately resulting in novel seed-dispersal networks. The aim of NETNOVO is to build and assess the structure, resilience and functioning of novel seed-dispersal networks under climate change. I will combine species trait data with climate, species distribution, and network assembly models to: O1) map the global loss and potential gain of seed-dispersal interactions under climate change, O2) predict the resulting novel seed-dispersal networks, and estimate their structure, and resilience, and O3) assess the seed-dispersal service that novel networks may provide. NETNOVO will not solely focus on interaction loss; instead, NETNOVO aims to shed light on the formation of novel ecosystems, an urgent enterprise which is beyond the state-of-the-art. Whilst increasing my international mobility and career development, expected NETNOVO results include three scientific publications, outreach activities to promote societal awareness on the effects of climate change on mutualistic interactions, and meetings with conservation agencies to discuss strategies to restore interactions.