Plant traits mediate the effects of climate on phytophagous beetle diversity on Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Chrysomelidae
Curculionidae
altitudinal gradient
diversity gradients
elevation gradient
functional diversity
herbivorous beetles
herbivory
more-individuals hypothesis
phytophagous beetles
plant functional traits
Journal
Ecology
ISSN: 1939-9170
Titre abrégé: Ecology
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 0043541
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
12 2021
12 2021
Historique:
revised:
28
05
2021
received:
18
04
2021
accepted:
09
06
2021
pubmed:
28
8
2021
medline:
15
12
2021
entrez:
27
8
2021
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Patterns of insect diversity along elevational gradients are well described in ecology. However, it remains little tested how variation in the quantity, quality, and diversity of food resources influence these patterns. Here we analyzed the direct and indirect effects of climate, food quantity (estimated by net primary productivity), quality (variation in the specific leaf area index, leaf nitrogen to phosphorus and leaf carbon to nitrogen ratio), and food diversity (diversity of leaf traits) on the species richness of phytophagous beetles along the broad elevation and land use gradients of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. We sampled beetles at 65 study sites located in both natural and anthropogenic habitats, ranging from 866 to 4,550 m asl. We used path analysis to unravel the direct and indirect effects of predictor variables on species richness. In total, 3,154 phytophagous beetles representing 19 families and 304 morphospecies were collected. We found that the species richness of phytophagous beetles was bimodally distributed along the elevation gradient with peaks at the lowest (˜866 m asl) and upper mid-elevations (˜3,200 m asl) and sharply declined at higher elevations. Path analysis revealed temperature- and climate-driven changes in primary productivity and leaf trait diversity to be the best predictors of changes in the species richness of phytophagous beetles. Species richness increased with increases in mean annual temperature, primary productivity, and with increases in the diversity of leaf traits of local ecosystems. Our study demonstrates that, apart from temperature, the quantity and diversity of food resources play a major role in shaping diversity gradients of phytophagous insects. Drivers of global change, leading to a change of leaf traits and causing reductions in plant diversity and productivity, may consequently reduce the diversity of herbivore assemblages.
Banques de données
figshare
['10.6084/m9.figshare.14686977']
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
e03521Informations de copyright
© 2021 The Authors. Ecology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Ecological Society of America.
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