Food webs reveal coexistence mechanisms and community organization in carnivores
Food webs reveal coexistence mechanisms and community organization in carnivores
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cub.2022.12.049
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发表时间：
2023-01
期刊：
影响因子：
9.2
通讯作者：
Qi Lu;Chen Cheng;L. Xiao;Juan Li;Xueyang Li;Xiang Zhao;Zhi Lu;Jindong Zhao;Meng Yao
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Qi Lu;Chen Cheng;L. Xiao;Juan Li;Xueyang Li;Xiang Zhao;Zhi Lu;Jindong Zhao;Meng Yao
在全球范围内，大规模的食肉动物行会灭绝导致营养降级和生态系统服务受损。然而，多食肉动物食物网的复杂性复杂的物种相互作用和社区组织的准确识别。在这里，我们使用粪便DNA metabarcoding调查三个社区，共同包括8个大型和中型食肉动物物种和他们的44猎物类群的青藏高原（QTP），地球上最后的地方之一，仍然窝藏完整的食肉动物组合。定量食物网分析显示，在食肉动物的猎物组成和饮食分区之间和行会内的显着种间差异。此外，食肉动物和它们的猎物的身体质量在整个社区表现出一致的驼峰形相关性。总体而言，猎物多样性，大小类别，比例利用之间的食肉动物物种的差异，可能会促进食肉动物共存在恶劣的QTP环境中的营养生态位隔离。网络结构分析检测到显着的模块化，在所有的食物网，但嵌套只有一个。此外，网络特征鉴定了鼠兔（Ochotonaspp.），bharal（Pseudois nayaur）和家牦牛（Bos grunniens）作为整个地区的潜在重点猎物。我们的研究结果描绘了QTP食肉动物组合的营养网络的整体和详细的图片，并表明，结合使用的分子饮食方法和网络分析可以产生结构的见解食肉动物共存，并可以识别功能上重要的物种在复杂的社区。这些知识可以帮助维护食肉动物行会的完整性，并提高社区对敏感的QTP生态系统环境扰动的适应能力。
Globally, massive carnivore guild extirpations have led to trophic downgrading and compromised ecosystem services. However, the complexity of multi-carnivore food webs complicates accurate identification of species interactions and community organization. Here, we used fecal DNA metabarcoding to investigate three communities that together encompass eight large- and meso-carnivore species and their 44 prey taxa of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP), one of the last places on Earth that still harbors intact carnivore assemblages. Quantitative food-web analyses revealed pronounced interspecific variations in the carnivores' prey compositions and dietary partitioning both between and within guilds. Additionally, body masses of the carnivores and their prey exhibited consistent hump-shaped correlations across communities. Overall, differences in prey diversity, size category, and proportional utilization among the carnivore species result in trophic niche segregation that likely promotes carnivore coexistence in the harsh QTP environment. Network structure analyses detected significant modularity in all food webs but nestedness in only one. Furthermore, network characterization identified pikas (Ochotonaspp.), bharal (Pseudois nayaur), and domestic yak (Bos grunniens) as potential keystone prey across the areas. Our results paint a holistic and detailed picture of the QTP carnivore assemblages' trophic networks and demonstrate that the combined use of the molecular dietary approach and network analysis can generate structural insights into carnivore coexistence and can identify functionally important species in complex communities. Such knowledge can help safeguard carnivore guild integrity and enhance community resilience to environmental perturbations in the sensitive QTP ecosystems.