Climate–land-use interactions shape tropical mountain biodiversity and ecosystem functions

Peters, Marcell K.; Hemp, Andreas; Appelhans, Tim; Becker, Joscha N.; Behler, Christina; Claßen, Alice; Detsch, Florian; Enßlin, Andreas; Ferger, Stefan W.; Frederiksen, Signe; Gebert, Friederike; Gerschlauer, Friederike; Gütlein, Adrian; Helbig‐Bonitz, Maria; Hemp, Claudia; Kindeketa, William J.; Kühnel, Anna; Mayr, Antonia V.; Mwangomo, Ephraim; Ngereza, Christine; Njovu, Henry K.; Otte, Insa; Pabst, Holger; Renner, Marion; Röder, Juliane; Rutten, Gemma; Costa, David Schellenberger; Sierra-Cornejo, Natalia; Vollstädt, Maximilian G. R.; Dulle, Hamadi I.; Eardley, Connal; Howell, Kim M.; Keller, Alexander; Peters, Ralph S.; Ssymank, Axel; Kakengi, Victor; Zhang, Jie; Bogner, Christina; Böhning‐Gaese, Katrin; Brandl, Roland; Hertel, Dietrich; Huwe, Bernd; Kiese, Ralf; Kleyer, Michael; Kuzyakov, Yakov; Nauß, Thomas; Schleuning, Matthias; Tschapka, Marco; Fischer, Markus; Steffan‐Dewenter, Ingolf

doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1048-z

Cited by 387 publications

(340 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Study sites differed in their land use intensity. To account for that, we used a quantitative composite index of human land use, hereafter termed LUI, which was designed in earlier studies based on data collected on 60 study sites (Peters et al, ). In a nutshell, we averaged standardized estimates of (a) annual plant biomass removal and (b) agricultural inputs (irrigation, fertilization, insecticides, fungicide, and herbicides) and quantified (c) differences of the vegetation structure to the natural vegetation (quantified in terms of canopy closure, canopy height, vegetation heterogeneity) on each study site.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Specialization of plant–pollinator interactions increases with temperature at Mt. Kilimanjaro

Claßen

Eardley

Hemp

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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Aim Species differ in their degree of specialization when interacting with other species, with significant consequences for the function and robustness of ecosystems. In order to better estimate such consequences, we need to improve our understanding of the spatial patterns and drivers of specialization in interaction networks. Methods Here, we used the extensive environmental gradient of Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania, East Africa) to study patterns and drivers of specialization, and robustness of plant–pollinator interactions against simulated species extinction with standardized sampling methods. We studied specialization, network robustness and other network indices of 67 quantitative plant–pollinator networks consisting of 268 observational hours and 4,380 plant–pollinator interactions along a 3.4 km elevational gradient. Using path analysis, we tested whether resource availability, pollinator richness, visitation rates, temperature, and/or area explain average specialization in pollinator communities. We further linked pollinator specialization to different pollinator taxa, and species traits, that is, proboscis length, body size, and species elevational ranges. Results We found that specialization decreased with increasing elevation at different levels of biological organization. Among all variables, mean annual temperature was the best predictor of average specialization in pollinator communities. Specialization differed between pollinator taxa, but was not related to pollinator traits. Network robustness against simulated species extinctions of both plants and pollinators was lowest in the most specialized interaction networks, that is, in the lowlands. Conclusions Our study uncovers patterns in plant–pollinator specialization along elevational gradients. Mean annual temperature was closely linked to pollinator specialization. Energetic constraints, caused by short activity timeframes in cold highlands, may force ectothermic species to broaden their dietary spectrum. Alternatively or in addition, accelerated evolutionary rates might facilitate the establishment of specialization under warm climates. Despite the mechanisms behind the patterns have yet to be fully resolved, our data suggest that temperature shifts in the course of climate change may destabilize pollination networks by affecting network architecture.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resources Pollinator Richness Climate Area and Land Usmentioning

confidence: 99%

Specialization of plant–pollinator interactions increases with temperature at Mt. Kilimanjaro

Claßen

Eardley

Hemp

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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“…For this project, 66 permanent study plots (50 m × 50 m) of the DFG research unit FOR1246 were selected on the southern slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro (Peters et al, ). The study plots were evenly allocated among the 13 major natural and anthropogenic ecosystem types in the region (five to six study plots per ecosystem type) and covered an elevation gradient from 870 to 4,550 m a.s.l.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate rather than dung resources predict dung beetle abundance and diversity along elevational and land use gradients on Mt. Kilimanjaro

Gebert

Steffan‐Dewenter

Moretto

et al. 2019

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim While elevational gradients in species richness constitute some of the best depicted patterns in ecology, there is a large uncertainty concerning the role of food resource availability for the establishment of diversity gradients in insects. Here, we analysed the importance of climate, area, land use and food resources for determining diversity gradients of dung beetles along extensive elevation and land use gradients on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Location Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Taxon Scarabaeidae (Coleoptera). Methods Dung beetles were recorded with baited pitfall traps at 66 study plots along a 3.6 km elevational gradient. In order to quantify food resources for the dung beetle community in form of mammal defecation rates, we assessed mammalian diversity and biomass with camera traps. Using a multi‐model inference framework and path analysis, we tested the direct and indirect links between climate, area, land use and mammal defecation rates on the species richness and abundance of dung beetles. Results We found that the species richness of dung beetles declined exponentially with increasing elevation. Human land use diminished the species richness of functional groups exhibiting complex behaviour but did not have a significant influence on total species richness. Path analysis suggested that climate, in particular temperature and to a lesser degree precipitation, were the most important predictors of dung beetle species richness while mammal defecation rate was not supported as a predictor variable. Main conclusions Along broad climatic gradients, dung beetle diversity is mainly limited by climatic factors rather than by food resources. Our study points to a predominant role of temperature‐driven processes for the maintenance and origination of species diversity of ectothermic organisms, which will consequently be subject to ongoing climatic changes.

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“…Estimates of NDVI were calculated from a MODIS Aqua product MYD13Q1 with a horizontal resolution of 250 m by 250 m by averaging corrected NDVI measured of 10 consecutive years (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012) and extracting pixel values corresponding to the geographical positions of the study sites. For details, see Detsch, Otte, Appelhans, and Nauss (2016) and Peters et al (2016Peters et al ( , 2019).…”

Section: Study Sites and Environmental Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Leaf traits mediate changes in invertebrate herbivory along broad environmental gradients on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Njovu

Peters

Costa

et al. 2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Temperature, primary productivity, plant functional traits, and herbivore abundances are considered key predictors of leaf herbivory but their direct and indirect contributions to community‐level herbivory are not well understood along broad climatic gradients. Here, we determined elevational herbivory patterns and used a path analytical approach to disentangle the direct and indirect effects of climate, land use, net primary productivity (NPP), herbivore abundance, and plant functional traits on community‐level invertebrate herbivory along the extensive elevational and land use gradients at Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. We recorded standing leaf herbivory caused by leaf chewers, leaf miners and leaf gallers on 55 study sites distributed in natural and anthropogenic habitats along a 3,060 m elevation gradient. We related the total community‐level herbivory to climate (temperature and precipitation), NPP, plant functional traits (specific leaf area, leaf carbon‐to‐nitrogen [CN] ratio and leaf nitrogen‐to‐phosphorus [NP] ratio) and herbivore abundances. Leaf herbivory ranged from 5% to 11% along the elevation gradient. Total leaf herbivory showed unimodal pattern in natural habitats but a strongly contrasting bimodal pattern in anthropogenic habitats. We also detected some variation in the patterns of leaf herbivory along environmental gradients across feeding guilds with leaf chewers being responsible for a disproportionally large part of herbivory. Path analyses indicated that the variation in leaf herbivory was mainly driven by changes in leaf CN and NP ratios which were closely linked to changes in NPP in natural habitats. Similarly, patterns of leaf herbivory in anthropogenic habitats were best explained by variation in leaf CN ratios and a negative effect of land use. Our study elucidates the strong role of leaf nutrient stoichiometry and its linkages to climate and NPP for explaining the variation in leaf herbivory along broad climatic gradients. Furthermore, the study suggests that climatic changes and nutrient inputs in the course of land use change may alter leaf herbivory and consequently energy and nutrient fluxes in terrestrial habitats.

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Climate–land-use interactions shape tropical mountain biodiversity and ecosystem functions

Cited by 387 publications

References 57 publications

Specialization of plant–pollinator interactions increases with temperature at Mt. Kilimanjaro

Specialization of plant–pollinator interactions increases with temperature at Mt. Kilimanjaro

Climate rather than dung resources predict dung beetle abundance and diversity along elevational and land use gradients on Mt. Kilimanjaro

Leaf traits mediate changes in invertebrate herbivory along broad environmental gradients on Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

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