Plant and animal functional diversity drive mutualistic network assembly across an elevational gradient
Please always quote using this URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-221056
- Species' functional traits set the blueprint for pair-wise interactions in ecological networks. Yet, it is unknown to what extent the functional diversity of plant and animal communities controls network assembly along environmental gradients in real-world ecosystems. Here we address this question with a unique dataset of mutualistic bird-fruit, bird-flower and insect-flower interaction networks and associated functional traits of 200 plant and 282 animal species sampled along broad climate and land-use gradients on Mt. Kilimanjaro. We showSpecies' functional traits set the blueprint for pair-wise interactions in ecological networks. Yet, it is unknown to what extent the functional diversity of plant and animal communities controls network assembly along environmental gradients in real-world ecosystems. Here we address this question with a unique dataset of mutualistic bird-fruit, bird-flower and insect-flower interaction networks and associated functional traits of 200 plant and 282 animal species sampled along broad climate and land-use gradients on Mt. Kilimanjaro. We show that plant functional diversity is mainly limited by precipitation, while animal functional diversity is primarily limited by temperature. Furthermore, shifts in plant and animal functional diversity along the elevational gradient control the niche breadth and partitioning of the respective other trophic level. These findings reveal that climatic constraints on the functional diversity of either plants or animals determine the relative importance of bottom-up and top-down control in plant-animal interaction networks.…
Author: | Jörg Albrecht, Alice Classen, Maximilian G.R. Vollstädt, Antonia Mayr, Neduvoto P. Mollel, David Schellenberger Costa, Hamadi I. Dulle, Markus Fischer, Andreas Hemp, Kim M. Howell, Michael Kleyer, Thomas Nauss, Marcell K. Peters, Marco Tschapka, Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, Katrin Böhning-Gaese, Matthias Schleuning |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-221056 |
Document Type: | Journal article |
Faculties: | Fakultät für Biologie / Theodor-Boveri-Institut für Biowissenschaften |
Language: | English |
Parent Title (English): | Nature Communications |
Year of Completion: | 2018 |
Volume: | 9 |
Article Number: | 3177 |
Pagenumber: | 1-10 |
Source: | Nature Communications, volume 9, Article number: 3177 (2018). doi:10.1038/s41467-018-05610-w |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05610-w |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 57 Biowissenschaften; Biologie / 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie |
Tag: | 4TH-Corner Problem; Biodiversity; Bottom-up; Community ecology; Ecological Networks; Ecological networks; Ecology; Ecosystem ecology; Multiple Traits; Species Traits; Traits-Environment Relationships |
Release Date: | 2024/05/31 |
Licence (German): | CC BY: Creative-Commons-Lizenz: Namensnennung 4.0 International |