Cargando…

Food-Web Structure in Relation to Environmental Gradients and Predator-Prey Ratios in Tank-Bromeliad Ecosystems

Little is known of how linkage patterns between species change along environmental gradients. The small, spatially discrete food webs inhabiting tank-bromeliads provide an excellent opportunity to analyse patterns of community diversity and food-web topology (connectance, linkage density, nestedness...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Dézerald, Olivier, Leroy, Céline, Corbara, Bruno, Carrias, Jean-François, Pélozuelo, Laurent, Dejean, Alain, Céréghino, Régis
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3743759/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23977128
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0071735
_version_ 1782280511389958144
author Dézerald, Olivier
Leroy, Céline
Corbara, Bruno
Carrias, Jean-François
Pélozuelo, Laurent
Dejean, Alain
Céréghino, Régis
author_facet Dézerald, Olivier
Leroy, Céline
Corbara, Bruno
Carrias, Jean-François
Pélozuelo, Laurent
Dejean, Alain
Céréghino, Régis
author_sort Dézerald, Olivier
collection PubMed
description Little is known of how linkage patterns between species change along environmental gradients. The small, spatially discrete food webs inhabiting tank-bromeliads provide an excellent opportunity to analyse patterns of community diversity and food-web topology (connectance, linkage density, nestedness) in relation to key environmental variables (habitat size, detrital resource, incident radiation) and predators:prey ratios. We sampled 365 bromeliads in a wide range of understorey environments in French Guiana and used gut contents of invertebrates to draw the corresponding 365 connectance webs. At the bromeliad scale, habitat size (water volume) determined the number of species that constitute food-web nodes, the proportion of predators, and food-web topology. The number of species as well as the proportion of predators within bromeliads declined from open to forested habitats, where the volume of water collected by bromeliads was generally lower because of rainfall interception by the canopy. A core group of microorganisms and generalist detritivores remained relatively constant across environments. This suggests that (i) a highly-connected core ensures food-web stability and key ecosystem functions across environments, and (ii) larger deviations in food-web structures can be expected following disturbance if detritivores share traits that determine responses to environmental changes. While linkage density and nestedness were lower in bromeliads in the forest than in open areas, experiments are needed to confirm a trend for lower food-web stability in the understorey of primary forests.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3743759
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2013
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-37437592013-08-23 Food-Web Structure in Relation to Environmental Gradients and Predator-Prey Ratios in Tank-Bromeliad Ecosystems Dézerald, Olivier Leroy, Céline Corbara, Bruno Carrias, Jean-François Pélozuelo, Laurent Dejean, Alain Céréghino, Régis PLoS One Research Article Little is known of how linkage patterns between species change along environmental gradients. The small, spatially discrete food webs inhabiting tank-bromeliads provide an excellent opportunity to analyse patterns of community diversity and food-web topology (connectance, linkage density, nestedness) in relation to key environmental variables (habitat size, detrital resource, incident radiation) and predators:prey ratios. We sampled 365 bromeliads in a wide range of understorey environments in French Guiana and used gut contents of invertebrates to draw the corresponding 365 connectance webs. At the bromeliad scale, habitat size (water volume) determined the number of species that constitute food-web nodes, the proportion of predators, and food-web topology. The number of species as well as the proportion of predators within bromeliads declined from open to forested habitats, where the volume of water collected by bromeliads was generally lower because of rainfall interception by the canopy. A core group of microorganisms and generalist detritivores remained relatively constant across environments. This suggests that (i) a highly-connected core ensures food-web stability and key ecosystem functions across environments, and (ii) larger deviations in food-web structures can be expected following disturbance if detritivores share traits that determine responses to environmental changes. While linkage density and nestedness were lower in bromeliads in the forest than in open areas, experiments are needed to confirm a trend for lower food-web stability in the understorey of primary forests. Public Library of Science 2013-08-14 /pmc/articles/PMC3743759/ /pubmed/23977128 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0071735 Text en © 2013 Dézerald et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Dézerald, Olivier
Leroy, Céline
Corbara, Bruno
Carrias, Jean-François
Pélozuelo, Laurent
Dejean, Alain
Céréghino, Régis
Food-Web Structure in Relation to Environmental Gradients and Predator-Prey Ratios in Tank-Bromeliad Ecosystems
title Food-Web Structure in Relation to Environmental Gradients and Predator-Prey Ratios in Tank-Bromeliad Ecosystems
title_full Food-Web Structure in Relation to Environmental Gradients and Predator-Prey Ratios in Tank-Bromeliad Ecosystems
title_fullStr Food-Web Structure in Relation to Environmental Gradients and Predator-Prey Ratios in Tank-Bromeliad Ecosystems
title_full_unstemmed Food-Web Structure in Relation to Environmental Gradients and Predator-Prey Ratios in Tank-Bromeliad Ecosystems
title_short Food-Web Structure in Relation to Environmental Gradients and Predator-Prey Ratios in Tank-Bromeliad Ecosystems
title_sort food-web structure in relation to environmental gradients and predator-prey ratios in tank-bromeliad ecosystems
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3743759/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23977128
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0071735
work_keys_str_mv AT dezeraldolivier foodwebstructureinrelationtoenvironmentalgradientsandpredatorpreyratiosintankbromeliadecosystems
AT leroyceline foodwebstructureinrelationtoenvironmentalgradientsandpredatorpreyratiosintankbromeliadecosystems
AT corbarabruno foodwebstructureinrelationtoenvironmentalgradientsandpredatorpreyratiosintankbromeliadecosystems
AT carriasjeanfrancois foodwebstructureinrelationtoenvironmentalgradientsandpredatorpreyratiosintankbromeliadecosystems
AT pelozuelolaurent foodwebstructureinrelationtoenvironmentalgradientsandpredatorpreyratiosintankbromeliadecosystems
AT dejeanalain foodwebstructureinrelationtoenvironmentalgradientsandpredatorpreyratiosintankbromeliadecosystems
AT cereghinoregis foodwebstructureinrelationtoenvironmentalgradientsandpredatorpreyratiosintankbromeliadecosystems