Theory 64/Networks & Connectivity/Plant-pollinator networks
Nestedness Buffers Loss
The claim
The robustness of a pollination network to species loss is set by its nestedness relative to its connectance, not by species richness.
01Mechanism
Nested networks let specialists depend on generalists that persist; the ratio of nestedness to connectance sets how much redundancy remains after losses.
02Prediction
Robustness should track the ratio.
03Refutation
Robustness tracking richness would remove the structure.