Seed predation increases from the Arctic to the Equator and from high to low elevations
Seed predation increases from the Arctic to the Equator and from high to low elevations
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DOI：
10.1126/sciadv.aau4403
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发表时间：
2019-02-01
期刊：
影响因子：
13.6
通讯作者：
Morales M, P. A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hargreaves, A. L.;Suarez, Esteban;Morales M, P. A.
长期以来，由于气候、生产力或生物多样性的梯度，物种间的相互作用一直被预测在热带和低海拔地区会增加。尽管植物-动物相互作用梯度对于理解全球生态和进化过程很重要，但在大的地理梯度上系统地测试它们是特别困难的，而且来自较小的、不同的研究的证据也是不确定的。通过系统地测量扩散后的种子捕食使用6995个标准化的种子库沿着18山在太平洋科迪勒拉，我们发现，种子捕食增加了17%，从北极到赤道和17%，从海拔4000米到海平面。在总的捕食倾向，可能是由无脊椎动物驱动的，是一致的整个林线交错区和连续的森林，更好地解释了气候季节性比生产力，生物多样性，或纬度。这些结果表明，物种间的相互作用在热带、低地和其他季节性较弱的生态系统中发挥着可预见的更大的生态和进化作用。
Species interactions have long been predicted to increase in intensity toward the tropics and low elevations because of gradients in climate, productivity, or biodiversity. Despite their importance for understanding global ecological and evolutionary processes, plant-animal interaction gradients are particularly difficult to test systematically across large geographic gradients, and evidence from smaller, disparate studies is inconclusive. By systematically measuring postdispersal seed predation using 6995 standardized seed depots along 18 mountains in the Pacific cordillera, we found that seed predation increases by 17% from the Arctic to the Equator and by 17% from 4000 meters above sea level to sea level. Clines in total predation, likely driven by invertebrates, were consistent across treeline ecotones and within continuous forest and were better explained by climate seasonality than by productivity, biodiversity, or latitude. These results suggest that species interactions play predictably greater ecological and evolutionary roles in tropical, lowland, and other less seasonal ecosystems.