Trait matching and phylogeny as predictors of predator–prey interactions involving ground beetles

Brousseau, Pierre-Marc; Gravel, Dominique; Handa, I. Tanya

doi:10.1111/1365-2435.12943

Cited by 72 publications

(115 citation statements)

References 70 publications

(127 reference statements)

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“…Rather, a strong effect of phylogeny is fully consistent with an importance of other, as‐yet‐unmeasured traits, since so many traits will covary among related species. Thus, an imprint of evolutionary history can essentially be seen as a catch‐all for the imprint of one or several unmeasured traits (e.g., cuticular toughness; Brousseau et al., ). Furthermore, we note that our inference about trait matching might also be limited by the fact that prey size was measured at the family level, masking substantial variation among species and consumed individuals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing changes in arthropod predator–prey interactions through DNA‐based gut content analysis—variable environment, stable diet

et al. 2018

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Analysing the structure and dynamics of biotic interaction networks and the processes shaping them is currently one of the key fields in ecology. In this paper, we develop a novel approach to gut content analysis, thereby deriving a new perspective on community interactions and their responses to environment. For this, we use an elevational gradient in the High Arctic, asking how the environment and species traits interact in shaping predator-prey interactions involving the wolf spider Pardosa glacialis. To characterize the community of potential prey available to this predator, we used pitfall trapping and vacuum sampling. To characterize the prey actually consumed, we applied molecular gut content analysis. Using joint species distribution models, we found elevation and vegetation mass to explain the most variance in the composition of the prey community locally available. However, such environmental variables had only a small effect on the prey community found in the spider's gut. These observations indicate that Pardosa exerts selective feeding on particular taxa irrespective of environmental constraints. By directly modelling the probability of predation based on gut content data, we found that neither trait matching in terms of predator and prey body size nor phylogenetic or environmental constraints modified interaction probability. Our results indicate that taxonomic identity may be more important for predator-prey interactions than environmental constraints or prey traits. The impact of environmental change on predator-prey interactions thus appears to be indirect and mediated by its imprint on the community of available prey.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(). Likewise, results from experiments have shown that body mass can largely influence biotic interactions, in particular predator–prey links (Brose, ; Brousseau, Gravel, & Handa, ; Gravel et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing changes in arthropod predator–prey interactions through DNA‐based gut content analysis—variable environment, stable diet

et al. 2018

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“…Tools that allow us to extrapolate the effects of food web structure on ecosystem function are needed. Examples of trait matching include the length of pollinator tongue and corolla depth of flowers (Ibanez 2012), biting force of ground beetles and cuticular toughness of prey (Brousseau et al 2018b) and lipid content of predatory marine mammals and caloric content of prey (Spitz et al 2014). Trait matches that predict interactions can be validated through lab arena experiments (e.g., Brousseau et al 2018b) or through models analyzing well-resolved food webs (e.g., Laigle et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traits of litter‐dwelling forest arthropod predators and detritivores covary spatially with traits of their resources

Brousseau

Gravel

Handa

2019

Ecology

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The functional trait approach proposes that relating traits of organisms within a community to variation in abiotic and biotic characteristics of their environment will provide insight on the mechanisms of community assembly. As traits at a given trophic level might act as filters for the selection of traits at another trophic level, we hypothesized that traits of consumers and of their resources covary in space. We evaluated complementary predictions about top‐down (negative) and bottom‐up (positive) trait covariation in a detrital food web. Additionally, we tested whether positive trait covariation was better explained by the Resource Concentration Hypothesis (i.e., most commonly represented trait values attract abundant consumers) or the Resource Specialization Hypothesis (i.e., resource diversity increases niche availability for the consumers). Macroarthopods were collected with pitfall traps over two summers in three forested sites of southern Quebec in 110 plots that varied in tree species composition. Six feeding traits of consumers (detritivores and predators) and six palatability traits of their resources (leaf litter and prey) were matched to assess spatial covariation. Trait matches included consumer biting force/resource toughness, detritivore mandibular gape/leaf thickness, predator/prey body size ratio, etc. Our results demonstrate for the first time a covariation between feeding traits of detritivores and palatability traits of leaf litter (31–34%), and between feeding traits of litter‐dwelling predators and palatability traits of potential prey (38–44%). The observed positive covariation supports both the Resource Concentration Hypothesis and Resource Specialization Hypothesis. Spatial covariation of consumer and resource traits provides a new tool to partially predict the structure of the detrital food web. Nonetheless, top‐down regulation remains difficult to confirm. Further research on top‐down processes will be undoubtedly necessary to refine our capacity to interpret the effect of biotic interactions on co‐distribution.

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“…, Brousseau et al. ), while others have found that ecosystem type or predator thermoregulation has an important effect (Silliman and He ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Community regulation models as a framework for direct and indirect effects of climate change on species distributions

Wallingford

Sorte

2019

Ecosphere

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Existing projections of climate change impacts focus primarily on direct abiotic impacts on individuals and populations. However, these models often ignore species interactions, which are vital for determining community composition and structure. To evaluate both direct and indirect effects of climate change on species distributions, we applied the Menge–Sutherland model, which describes the relative role of predation and environmental stress in regulating community structure. Using a space‐for‐time approach, we tested the predictions that (1) predators are more strongly impacted by increasing environmental stress than prey (as described in the Menge–Sutherland model) and (2) incorporating indirect (predator) effects increases our ability to predict impacts of increased temperature on prey distributions. We surveyed vertical distributions of predators (sea stars) and a foundational prey species (mussels) at 20 intertidal sites spanning a thermal gradient along the West Coast of the United States. Using generalized linear models and structural equation models, we found that as temperature increased, the upper limits of foundational prey species decreased (a direct effect), while prey lower limits also shifted downward, due to an indirect effect of temperature on predator distributions. Under future climate change, mussel ranges may undergo vertical shifts toward subtidal habitats, allowing for localized persistence of mussels and associated species. Our model comparisons indicate that this framework—incorporating both direct and indirect environmental stress effects within a classic community regulation model—can improve prediction of responses to warming. Community regulation models could be expanded to inform management and conservation efforts during unprecedented climate and ecological change.

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Trait matching and phylogeny as predictors of predator–prey interactions involving ground beetles

Cited by 72 publications

References 70 publications

Assessing changes in arthropod predator–prey interactions through DNA‐based gut content analysis—variable environment, stable diet

Assessing changes in arthropod predator–prey interactions through DNA‐based gut content analysis—variable environment, stable diet

Traits of litter‐dwelling forest arthropod predators and detritivores covary spatially with traits of their resources

Community regulation models as a framework for direct and indirect effects of climate change on species distributions

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