Functional trait diversity across trophic levels determines herbivore impact on plant community biomass

Understanding the consequences of trophic interactions for ecosystem functioning is challenging, as contrasting effects of species and functional diversity can be expected across trophic levels. We experimentally manipulated functional identity and diversity of grassland insect herbivores and tested...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology letters 2015-12, Vol.18 (12), p.1346-1355
Main Authors: Deraison, Hélène, Badenhausser, Isabelle, Loeuille, Nicolas, Scherber, Christoph, Gross, Nicolas, Haddad, Nick
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural sciences
Animals
Biodiversity
Biodiversity and Ecology
Biodiversity experiment
Biomass
body size
complementarity effect
Ecosystems
Environmental Sciences
Food Chain
Food chains
France
functional diversity
functional trait diversity
grassland
grasslands
herbivore
Herbivores
Herbivory
incisor strength
insect communities
insects
Life Sciences
Orthoptera - physiology
plant communities
Plant Physiological Phenomena
plant-herbivore interactions
Seasons
trophic interactions
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Summary:Understanding the consequences of trophic interactions for ecosystem functioning is challenging, as contrasting effects of species and functional diversity can be expected across trophic levels. We experimentally manipulated functional identity and diversity of grassland insect herbivores and tested their impact on plant community biomass. Herbivore resource acquisition traits, i.e. mandible strength and the diversity of mandibular traits, had more important effects on plant biomass than body size. Higher herbivore functional diversity increased overall impact on plant biomass due to feeding niche complementarity. Higher plant functional diversity limited biomass pre‐emption by herbivores. The functional diversity within and across trophic levels therefore regulates the impact of functionally contrasting consumers on primary producers. By experimentally manipulating the functional diversity across trophic levels, our study illustrates how trait‐based approaches constitute a promising way to tackle existing links between trophic interactions and ecosystem functioning.
ISSN:1461-023X
1461-0248
DOI:10.1111/ele.12529