3.1 Effect of water availability on the structure of
ant-plant networks
The networks were less rich as lower the mean precipitation rate (GLS;\(F_{1,51}\)= 14.813, p < 0.001), losing almost one species at
every 100 millimeters decrease in the mean precipitation rate
(Coefficient value = 0.08; Fig. 1a.). The average connectance of the
networks was 0.32 ± 0.16. Conversely to the network species richness,
the network connectance was not affected by the variation in the mean
precipitation rate (mm) (GLMM; \(\chi^{2}\)= 0.5811, df = 1, p = 0.445;
Fig. 1b). Similarly, the mean z NODF were not affected by
variations in the mean precipitation rate (2.43 ± 2.57; GLS;\(F_{1,51}\)= 1.72, p = 0.20; Fig. 1c). Regarding the modularity, the
networks are often less modular than expected by the null model,
presenting -0.16\(\pm\)1.65 z Q and, like zNODF, z Q was not
affected by the mean precipitation rate (GLS; \(F_{1,49}\) = 0.379,p = 0.540. Fig. 1d).