A highly resolved network reveals the role of terrestrial herbivory in structuring aboveground food webs.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
; 379(1909): 20230180, 2024 Sep 09.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39034695
ABSTRACT
Comparative studies suggest remarkable similarities among food webs across habitats, including systematic changes in their structure with diversity and complexity (scale-dependence). However, historic aboveground terrestrial food webs (ATFWs) have coarsely grouped plants and insects such that these webs are generally small, and herbivory is disproportionately under-represented compared to vertebrate predator-prey interactions. Furthermore, terrestrial herbivory is thought to be structured by unique processes compared to size-structured feeding in other systems. Here, we present the richest ATFW to date, including approximately 580 000 feeding links among approximately 3800 taxonomic species, sourced from approximately 27 000 expert-vetted interaction records annotated as feeding upon one of six different resource types leaves, flowers, seeds, wood, prey and carrion. By comparison to historical ATFWs and null ecological hypotheses, we show that our temperate forest web displays a potentially unique structure characterized by two properties (i) a large fraction of carnivory interactions dominated by a small number of hyper-generalist, opportunistic bird and bat predators; and (ii) a smaller fraction of herbivory interactions dominated by a hyper-rich community of insects with variably sized but highly specific diets. We attribute our findings to the large-scale, even resolution of vertebrate, insect and plant guilds in our food web.This article is part of the theme issue 'Connected interactions enriching food web research by spatial and social interactions'.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Cadena Alimentaria
/
Herbivoria
/
Insectos
Límite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos
Pais de publicación:
Reino Unido