Plant diversity increases predation by ground-dwelling invertebrate predators
Plant diversity increases predation by ground-dwelling invertebrate predators
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DOI：
10.1002/ecs2.1990
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发表时间：
2017-11-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
Meyer, Sebastian T.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hertzog, Lionel R.;Ebeling, Anne;Meyer, Sebastian T.
全球生物多样性的下降引起了人们对多样性丧失对生态系统功能的影响的担忧。植物多样性的丧失对整个食物网产生了影响，既影响到消费者群体，也影响到由消费者调节的生态系统功能。植物多样性丧失对无脊椎动物捕食者群落的影响已经被记录在案，但关于这些影响如何转化为捕食率的变化却知之甚少。在操纵物种丰富度和功能多样性的草原实验中，我们测量了沿两种植物多样性梯度的捕食率。使用三种不同类型的诱饵在两个不同的高度(地面和植被)和两个不同的季节(春季和夏季)进行了测量。我们的结果表明，总体捕食率随着植物物种丰富度的增加而增加，但影响是季节性变化的，并且在地面上比在植被中更明显。在我们的实验中，植物功能多样性并不总是影响捕食率。植物多样性对捕食的影响的潜在机制解释包括捕食者物种之间更高的互补性，或者在更高的植物多样性下，随着结构复杂性的增加，行会内的捕食减少。这些结果强调了高度的本地植物多样性对自然害虫控制的重要性。
Global declines in biodiversity have raised concerns over the implications of diversity loss for the functioning of ecosystems. Plant diversity loss has impacts throughout food webs affecting both consumer communities and ecosystem functions mediated by consumers. Effects of plant diversity loss on communities of invertebrate predators have been documented, yet little is known about how these translate into variations in predation rates. We measured predation rates along two plant diversity gradients in grassland experiments manipulating species richness and functional diversity. Measurements were conducted at two different heights (ground and vegetation) and in two different seasons (spring and summer), using three different types of baits. Our results show that overall predation rates increase with plant species richness, but effects are seasonally variable and are much more pronounced on the ground than in the vegetation. Plant functional diversity did not consistently affect predation rates in our experiments. Potential mechanistic explanations for an effect of plant diversity on predation include higher complementarity between predator species or reduced intraguild predation with increasing structural complexity at higher plant diversity. These results underline the importance of high local plant diversity for natural pest control.