Tree phylogenetic diversity structures multitrophic communities
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
Authors
Plant diversity begets diversity at other trophic levels. While species richness is the most commonly used measure for plant diversity, the number of evolutionary lineages (i.e. phylogenetic diversity) could theoretically have a stronger influence on the community structure of co-occurring organisms. However, this prediction has only rarely been tested in complex real-world ecosystems. Using a comprehensive multitrophic dataset of arthropods and fungi from a species-rich subtropical forest, we tested whether tree species richness or tree phylogenetic diversity relates to the diversity and composition of organisms. We show that tree phylogenetic diversity but not tree species richness determines arthropod and fungi community composition across trophic levels and increases the diversity of predatory arthropods but decreases herbivorous arthropod diversity. The effect of tree phylogenetic diversity was not mediated by changed abundances of associated organisms, indicating that evolutionarily more diverse plant communities increase niche opportunities (resource diversity) but not necessarily niche amplitudes (resource amount). Our findings suggest that plant evolutionary relatedness structures multitrophic communities in the studied species-rich forests and possibly other ecosystems at large. As global change non-randomly threatens phylogenetically distinct plant species, far-reaching consequences on associated communities are expected. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
| Originalsprache | Englisch |
|---|---|
| Zeitschrift | Functional Ecology |
| Jahrgang | 35 |
| Ausgabenummer | 2 |
| Seiten (von - bis) | 521-534 |
| Anzahl der Seiten | 14 |
| ISSN | 0269-8463 |
| DOIs | |
| Publikationsstatus | Erschienen - 01.02.2021 |
Bibliographische Notiz
Funding Information:
We thank the administration of the GNNR for granting research permissions and the BEF-China coordination team for continuous logistical support. We are indebted to the many students (especially Martin Baruffol, Bo Yang, Martin Böhnke-Kammerlander, Wenzel Kröber, Sabine Both, Katherina Pietsch, Pascale Zumstein) and local helpers (especially Fang Teng) who contributed to sampling and data collection. Discussions with Carsten Dormann shaped the final analytical approach. This study was funded by German Research Foundation (DFG FOR 891/1-3). Xiaojuan Liu was additionally supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31870409) and Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (2019082). WOA Institution: ALBERT-LUDWIGS-UNIVERSITAET FREIBURG Blended DEAL : ProjektDEAL. Open Access funding enabled and organized by ProjektDEAL.
Funding Information:
We thank the administration of the GNNR for granting research permissions and the BEF‐China coordination team for continuous logistical support. We are indebted to the many students (especially Martin Baruffol, Bo Yang, Martin Böhnke‐Kammerlander, Wenzel Kröber, Sabine Both, Katherina Pietsch, Pascale Zumstein) and local helpers (especially Fang Teng) who contributed to sampling and data collection. Discussions with Carsten Dormann shaped the final analytical approach. This study was funded by German Research Foundation (DFG FOR 891/1‐3). Xiaojuan Liu was additionally supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31870409) and Youth Innovation Promotion Association CAS (2019082).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. Functional Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society
- Ökosystemforschung