ECINBIES

No species on earth lives without interacting with other species. The interactome of Biodiversity is the complete set of ecological interactions among species that rely on the Web of Life. While the effects of the real biodiversity crisis have largely focused on the loss of species, one component of the loss of biodiversity that often accompanies or even precedes the disappearance of species is the extinction of ecological interactions. There is ample evidence in experimental field ecology that shows the cascading effects caused by loss of species. But ecological interactions are the core of the Web of Life, which supports Earth systems in a wide variety of biomes. Mutualism, facilitation, symbiosis, predator-prey interactions, parasitism, commensalism, etc., are fundamental bases for ecosystem functioning, yet the recent ecological literature still shows a bias towards Biodiversity analysis focused on species. The GBIF initiative has achieved unprecedented progress in the study and understanding of terrestrial biodiversity. However, the consideration of ecological interactions as Biodiversity components that need to be recorded, quantified, and evaluated has received limited attention, if any. While the implementation of database structures and knowledge-based platforms to record and manage Biodiversity collections and specimen information is well established and advanced, specific grammars within the Darwin-Core structure of GBIF are still under-developed. In this LifeWatch initiative and action, we propose to take advantage of the most recent developments for the characterization and quantification of ecological functions within complex networks of ecological interactions among species. As case studies we will focus on mutualisms and antagonisms of plants and animals (seed dispersal, predation, pollination, herbivory, parasitism, mycorrhizae), as well as food web information (predator-prey, host-parasite, host-parasitoid, etc.) in the Doñana National Park (Doñana Natural Area-END) and extensions of protected natural areas of Andalusia within the Natura 2000 Network (RN2000). In addition we will update all the existing information on ecological interactions in core study areas centered in RN2000 spaces. The proposal combines knowledge and experience of experimental field ecology, population genetics and genomics (e.g., DNA barcoding), conservation biology and landscape ecology in a general framework to assess the interactome of Biodiversity: its size and the diversity of integrated ecological functions in protected areas within RN2000. Beyond the description and quantification of this interactome (how many interactions? how do ecological functions map onto complex interaction networks? which species are at the core of these networks?), our proposal will offer a new conceptual framework to understand how species extinctions relate to previous loss of key interactions along gradients of environmental deterioration.