Detritivore diversity promotes a relative contribution rate of detritus to the diet of predators in ponds
Abstract Theory suggests that bottom‐up effects of resource diversity to upper trophic levels increases ecosystem functioning. In particular, energy flux from the detritus to other organisms in an ecosystem affects food web dynamics. To our knowledge, no empirical studies have examined how detritivo...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2016-03-01
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| Series: | Ecosphere |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1211 |
| _version_ | 1819020669131685888 |
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| author | Kayoko Fukumori Erina Yoshizaki Noriko Takamura Taku Kadoya |
| author_facet | Kayoko Fukumori Erina Yoshizaki Noriko Takamura Taku Kadoya |
| author_sort | Kayoko Fukumori |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Theory suggests that bottom‐up effects of resource diversity to upper trophic levels increases ecosystem functioning. In particular, energy flux from the detritus to other organisms in an ecosystem affects food web dynamics. To our knowledge, no empirical studies have examined how detritivore diversity alters the energy flux to upper trophic levels in a food web. Here we test the hypothesis that the greater diversity of litter‐consuming detritivores promotes energy flow between the resource and top predators in agricultural ponds using stable isotope analysis. We found that the diversity and abundance of detritivores had a significant positive effect on the relative contribution rate of detritus to the diet of predators, even after confounding effects were controlled for. In addition, the number of functional feeding groups of detritivores was significantly correlated with the contribution of detritus to the diet of predators, and particularly, high functional diversity of detritivores increased the energy flow from the detritus to the detritivores compared to the flow from the detritivores to the predators. It is likely that high functional diversity within species induces complementarity effects on decomposition and this may be a potential mechanism leading to diversity effects on the energy flow in detritus‐based food web. Our study is the first to demonstrate bottom‐up effects of detritivore diversity on energy flow in food webs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T03:54:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4baecb6312fa439c8a5bd7773f5b66b1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2150-8925 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T03:54:53Z |
| publishDate | 2016-03-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecosphere |
| spelling | doaj.art-4baecb6312fa439c8a5bd7773f5b66b12022-12-21T19:16:52ZengWileyEcosphere2150-89252016-03-0173n/an/a10.1002/ecs2.1211Detritivore diversity promotes a relative contribution rate of detritus to the diet of predators in pondsKayoko Fukumori0Erina Yoshizaki1Noriko Takamura2Taku Kadoya3Center for Environmental Biology and Ecosystem Studies National Institute for Environmental Studies 16‐2 Onogawa Tsukuba Ibaraki 305‐8506 JapanCenter for Environmental Biology and Ecosystem Studies National Institute for Environmental Studies 16‐2 Onogawa Tsukuba Ibaraki 305‐8506 JapanCenter for Environmental Biology and Ecosystem Studies National Institute for Environmental Studies 16‐2 Onogawa Tsukuba Ibaraki 305‐8506 JapanCenter for Environmental Biology and Ecosystem Studies National Institute for Environmental Studies 16‐2 Onogawa Tsukuba Ibaraki 305‐8506 JapanAbstract Theory suggests that bottom‐up effects of resource diversity to upper trophic levels increases ecosystem functioning. In particular, energy flux from the detritus to other organisms in an ecosystem affects food web dynamics. To our knowledge, no empirical studies have examined how detritivore diversity alters the energy flux to upper trophic levels in a food web. Here we test the hypothesis that the greater diversity of litter‐consuming detritivores promotes energy flow between the resource and top predators in agricultural ponds using stable isotope analysis. We found that the diversity and abundance of detritivores had a significant positive effect on the relative contribution rate of detritus to the diet of predators, even after confounding effects were controlled for. In addition, the number of functional feeding groups of detritivores was significantly correlated with the contribution of detritus to the diet of predators, and particularly, high functional diversity of detritivores increased the energy flow from the detritus to the detritivores compared to the flow from the detritivores to the predators. It is likely that high functional diversity within species induces complementarity effects on decomposition and this may be a potential mechanism leading to diversity effects on the energy flow in detritus‐based food web. Our study is the first to demonstrate bottom‐up effects of detritivore diversity on energy flow in food webs.https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1211benthos communitydetritus‐based energy channelfood webmultitrophic levelspond ecosystemspecies diversity |
| spellingShingle | Kayoko Fukumori Erina Yoshizaki Noriko Takamura Taku Kadoya Detritivore diversity promotes a relative contribution rate of detritus to the diet of predators in ponds Ecosphere benthos community detritus‐based energy channel food web multitrophic levels pond ecosystem species diversity |
| title | Detritivore diversity promotes a relative contribution rate of detritus to the diet of predators in ponds |
| title_full | Detritivore diversity promotes a relative contribution rate of detritus to the diet of predators in ponds |
| title_fullStr | Detritivore diversity promotes a relative contribution rate of detritus to the diet of predators in ponds |
| title_full_unstemmed | Detritivore diversity promotes a relative contribution rate of detritus to the diet of predators in ponds |
| title_short | Detritivore diversity promotes a relative contribution rate of detritus to the diet of predators in ponds |
| title_sort | detritivore diversity promotes a relative contribution rate of detritus to the diet of predators in ponds |
| topic | benthos community detritus‐based energy channel food web multitrophic levels pond ecosystem species diversity |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1211 |
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