Facilitation and biodiversity jointly drive mutualistic networks

Facilitation by nurse plants increases understorey diversity and supports ecological communities. In turn, biodiversity shapes networks enhances ecosystem functioning. However, whether how facilitation increased jointly influence community structure functioning remains unclear. We performed a field experiment disentangling the relative contribution of increasing plant in driving pollination interactions. Both presence shrubs pollinator visitation rates. While effects on rates did not interact, were stronger absence than shrubs, meaning that attenuated high buffered low diversity. also found positive complementarity among species as well between at Results indicate negative selection effects, suggesting with generally few pollinators benefit most polyculture while (possibly plant) lots does not. The corresponding changes experimental treatments due to both frequency visits turnover composition. Synthesis. Plant–plant facilitative systems, where diversity, are common stressful environments. Here, we show these systems positively mutualistic interactions via direct indirect Conserving supporting is crucial only for maintaining but functions services.