2. Biotic interactions for long-term resilience

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Our results show that Polynesian crops support a unique arthropod community compared with other plant types. However, crop type acts as a first environmental filter for species presence; species interactions are critical to long-term persistence and ecological state. My work investigates the cascading effects of single-level trophic interactions (arthropod–arthropod) to complex multi-trophic interactions (fungi/microbe–arthropod–plant) on biodiversity persistence within Indigenous agroforests, as well as their resilience to disturbance and climate change.

 

Using gut contents from spiders, a high-trophic predator, I constructed bipartite networks between spiders and their prey to examine network structure and resilience to species loss. Agricultural simplification produced networks dominated by non-native generalist spiders that were not susceptible to species loss. In contrast, agroforestry traits such as canopy cover supported networks of native specialist spiders and more compartmentalized interactions, which were more vulnerable to loss. Currently, with collaborators, I am examining soil microbial community shifts across project sites and using spectral biology to assess above- and below-ground structure and carbon dynamics of agroforests.​​​