Trophic interactions and abiotic factors drive functional and phylogenetic structure of vertebrate herbivore communities across the Arctic tundra biome
Communities are assembled from species that evolve or colonise a given geographic region, and persist in the face of abiotic conditions and interactions with other species. The evolutionary and colonisation histories of communities are characterised by phylogenetic diversity, while functional diversity is indicative of abiotic and biotic conditions. The relationship between functional and phylogenetic diversity infers whether species functional traits are divergent (differing between related species) or convergent (similar among distantly related species). Biotic interactions and abiotic conditions are known to influence macroecological patterns in species richness, but how functional and phylogenetic diversity of guilds vary with biotic factors, and the relative importance of biotic drivers in relation to geographic and abiotic drivers is unknown. In this study, we test whether geographic, abiotic or biotic factors drive biome-scale spatial patterns of functional and phylogenetic diversity and functional convergence in vertebrate herbivores across the Arctic tundra biome. We found that functional and phylogenetic diversity both peaked in the western North American Arctic, and that spatial patterns in both were best predicted by trophic interactions, namely vegetation productivity and predator diversity, as well as climatic severity. Our results show that both bottom-up and top-down trophic interactions, as well as winter temperatures, drive the functional and phylogenetic structure of Arctic vertebrate herbivore assemblages. This has implications for changing Arctic ecosystems; under future warming and northward movement of predators potential increases in phylogenetic and functional diversity in vertebrate herbivores may occur. Our study thus demonstrates that trophic interactions can determine large-scale functional and phylogenetic diversity just as strongly as abiotic conditions.
1.Norwegian Univ Sci & Technol, NTNU Univ Museum, Dept Nat Hist, Trondheim, Norway 2.Agr Univ Iceland, Dept Nat Resources & Environm Sci, Reykjavik, Iceland 3.Univ Quebec Rimouski, Canada Res Chair Northern Biodivers, Rimouski, PQ, Canada 4.Univ Quebec Rimouski, Ctr Northern Studies, Rimouski, PQ, Canada 5.Univ Tartu, Dept Bot, Inst Ecol & Earth Sci, Tartu, Estonia 6.Univ Lapland, Arctic Ctr, Rovaniemi, Finland 7.Boise State Univ, Dept Biol Sci, Boise, ID 83725 USA 8.Ctr Etud Foret, Quebec City, PQ, Canada 9.Univ Laval, Dept Biol, Quebec City, PQ, Canada 10.Univ Bergen, Dept Biol Sci, Bergen, Norway 11.Univ Turku, Dept Biol, Sect Ecol, Turku, Finland 12.Univ Moncton, Dept Biol, Canada Res Chair Polar & Boreal Ecol, Moncton, NB, Canada 13.Univ Moncton, Dept Biol, Ctr Northern Studies, Moncton, NB, Canada 14.Soil Conservat Serv Iceland, Gunnarsholt, Hella, Iceland 15.Univ Calgary, Fac Vet Med, Dept Ecosyst & Publ Hlth, Calgary, AB, Canada 16.Norwegian Polar Res Inst, Fram Ctr, Tromso, Norway 17.Martin Mere Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Burscough, Lancs, England 18.Swedish Univ Agr Sci, Dept Anim Nutr & Management, Uppsala, Sweden 19.Russian Acad Sci, Arctic Res Stn, Inst Plant & Anim Ecol, Ural Branch, Labytnangi, Russia 20.Arctic Res Ctr Yamal Nenets Autonomous Dist, Salekhard, Russia 21.James Cook Univ, Australian Trop Herbarium, Cairns, Qld, Australia 22.Univ & Jepson Herbaria, AHT, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA 23.Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Integrat Biol, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA 24.Norwegian Inst Nat Res NINA, Tromso, Norway 25.UiT Arctic Univ Norway, Dept Arctic & Marine Biol, Tromso, Norway
Recommended Citation:
Speed, James D. M.,Skjelbred, Ina Asnes,Barrio, Isabel C.,et al. Trophic interactions and abiotic factors drive functional and phylogenetic structure of vertebrate herbivore communities across the Arctic tundra biome[J]. ECOGRAPHY,2019-01-01,42(6):1152-1163