Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-08856-0
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Plant diversity alters the representation of motifs in food webs
Author Giling, D.P.; Ebeling, A.; Eisenhauer, N.; Meyer, S.T.; Roscher, C.; Rzanny, M.; Voigt, W.; Weisser, W.W.; Hines, J.
Source Titel Nature Communications
Year 2019
Department iDiv; PHYDIV
Volume 10
Page From art. 1226
Language englisch
Supplements https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41467-019-08856-0/MediaObjects/41467_2019_8856_MOESM1_ESM.pdf
Abstract Changes in the diversity of plant communities may undermine the economically and environmentally important consumer species they support. The structure of trophic interactions determines the sensitivity of food webs to perturbations, but rigorous assessments of plant diversity effects on network topology are lacking. Here, we use highly resolved networks from a grassland biodiversity experiment to test how plant diversity affects the prevalence of different food web motifs, the smaller recurrent sub-networks that form the building blocks of complex networks. We find that the representation of tri-trophic chain, apparent competition and exploitative competition motifs increases with plant species richness, while the representation of omnivory motifs decreases. Moreover, plant species richness is associated with altered patterns of local interactions among arthropod consumers in which plants are not directly involved. These findings reveal novel structuring forces that plant diversity exerts on food webs with potential implications for the persistence and functioning of multitrophic communities.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=21717
Giling, D.P., Ebeling, A., Eisenhauer, N., Meyer, S.T., Roscher, C., Rzanny, M., Voigt, W., Weisser, W.W., Hines, J. (2019):
Plant diversity alters the representation of motifs in food webs
Nat. Commun. 10 , art. 1226 10.1038/s41467-019-08856-0