Impacts of plant diversity on arthropod communities and plant–herbivore network architecture

Welti, Ellen A. R.; Helzer, Chris; Joern, Anthony

doi:10.1002/ecs2.1983

Cited by 40 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Alternatively, if the abundance of C 4 plants continues to increase at the expense of C 3 plants on plots with medium water reduction, we may see a larger decrease in plant diversity and a corresponding reduction in arthropod diversity. Additionally, other studies reporting a positive relationship between plant and arthropod diversity either experimentally increased plant diversity (Crutsinger et al 2006, Haddad et al 2009, Burkle et al 2013, Welti et al 2017) or ran their experiment over a longer period, that is, 10+ yr (Siemann 1998, Haddad et al 2009). Although we had interannual variation in our response variables, we sampled our plots after 1–2 yr of treatment, a period perhaps too short to detect a substantial change in plant diversity, which experiences a slower turnover rate than arthropod diversity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abiotic factors and plant biomass, not plant diversity, strongly shape grassland arthropods under drought conditions

Prather

Castillioni

Welti

et al. 2020

Ecology

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2020. Abiotic factors and plant biomass, not plant diversity, strongly shape grassland arthropods under drought conditions. Ecology 101(6):Abstract. Arthropod abundance and diversity often track plant biomass and diversity at the local scale. However, under altered precipitation regimes and anthropogenic disturbances, plant-arthropod relationships are expected to be increasingly controlled by abiotic, rather than biotic, factors. We used an experimental precipitation gradient combined with human management in a temperate mixed-grass prairie to examine (1) how two drivers, altered precipitation and biomass removal, can synergistically affect abiotic factors and plant communities and (2) how these effects can cascade upward, impacting the arthropod food web. Both drought and hay harvest increased soil surface temperature, and drought decreased soil moisture. Arthropod abundance decreased with low soil moisture and, contrary to our predictions, decreased with increased plant biomass. Arthropod diversity increased with soil moisture, decreased with high surface temperatures, and tracked arthropod abundance but was unaffected by plant diversity or quality. Our experiment demonstrates that arthropod abundance is directly constrained by abiotic factors and plant biomass, in turn constraining local arthropod diversity. If robust, this result suggests climate change in the southern Great Plains may directly reduce arthropod diversity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abiotic factors and plant biomass, not plant diversity, strongly shape grassland arthropods under drought conditions

Prather

Castillioni

Welti

et al. 2020

Ecology

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“…Interaction weights were calculated to assign a quantitative value to the importance of each feeding interaction for a given grasshopper species and plant species/watershed/year (modified from Welti, Helzer, & Joern, ). Interaction weights for each plant species or genus ( i ) and grasshopper species ( j ) interaction within each watershed ( w ) and year ( y ) were calculated as follows:

Interaction {weight}_{ijwy} = false(\frac{S_{ij}}{T_{j}} false) \times P_{iwy} \times G_{jwy}

…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire, grazing and climate shape plant–grasshopper interactions in a tallgrass prairie

et al. 2019

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Species interactions are integral to ecological community function, and the structure of species interactions has repercussions for the consequences of species extinctions. Few studies have examined the role of environmental factors in controlling species interaction networks across time. We examined variation in plant–grasshopper network structural properties in response to three major grassland drivers: periodic fire, ungulate grazing and climate. We sequenced a plant barcoding gene from extracted grasshopper gut contents to characterize diets of 26 grasshopper species. Resulting grasshopper species’ diets were combined with long‐term plant and grasshopper surveys to assemble plant–grasshopper networks across 13–19 years for six watersheds subjected to varying fire and grazing treatments. Network modularity, generality and predicted grasshopper community robustness to plant species loss all increased in grazed watersheds. Temperature decreased predicted grasshopper community robustness to plant species loss. Grasshopper communities were found to be vulnerable to climatic warming due to host plant loss. However, intermediate disturbance from ungulate grazers may maintain grasshopper diversity and buffer community robustness to species loss. Our results suggest that climate and disturbance shape the structure of ecological interaction networks and thus have many indirect effects on species persistence though direct effects on interaction partners. A plain language summary is available for this article.

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“…One potential consequence of disturbance on species interaction networks is a disruption of structural characteristics that promote community stability (Thébault & Fontaine ; Tylianakis et al ; Lever et al ; Welti et al ). Not only has the relationship between community structure and stability intrigued ecologists for decades (Elton ; May ; McCann ; Pennekamp et al ), but considering that many ecosystem processes are carried out via species interactions, the stability of ecosystem processes and species interactions are inextricably linked.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural intensification drives changes in hybrid network robustness by modifying network structure

2019

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Within ecological communities, species engage in myriad interaction types, yet empirical examples of hybrid species interaction networks composed of multiple types of interactions are still scarce. A key knowledge gap is understanding how the structure and stability of such hybrid networks are affected by anthropogenic disturbance. Using 15,169 interaction observations, we constructed 16 hybrid herbivore‐plant‐pollinator networks along an agricultural intensification gradient to explore changes in network structure and robustness to local extinctions. We found that agricultural intensification led to declines in modularity but increases in nestedness and connectance. Notably, network connectance, a structural feature typically thought to increase robustness, caused declines in hybrid network robustness, but the directionality of changes in robustness along the gradient depended on the order of local species extinctions. Our results not only demonstrate the impacts of anthropogenic disturbance on hybrid network structure, but they also provide unexpected insights into the structure‐stability relationship of hybrid networks.

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Impacts of plant diversity on arthropod communities and plant–herbivore network architecture

Cited by 40 publications

References 64 publications

Abiotic factors and plant biomass, not plant diversity, strongly shape grassland arthropods under drought conditions

Abiotic factors and plant biomass, not plant diversity, strongly shape grassland arthropods under drought conditions

Fire, grazing and climate shape plant–grasshopper interactions in a tallgrass prairie

Agricultural intensification drives changes in hybrid network robustness by modifying network structure

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