Food or furniture: Separating trophic and non‐trophic effects of Spanish moss to explain its high invertebrate diversity
Abstract Foundation species are typically suggested to enhance community diversity non‐trophically by increasing habitat structure and mitigating physical stress, while their trophic role is considered of minor importance. Yet, there is little experimental evidence on the relative importance of trop...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2019-09-01
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| Series: | Ecosphere |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2846 |
| _version_ | 1811326197313830912 |
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| author | Annieke C. W. Borst Christine Angelini Anne tenBerge Leon Lamers Marlous Derksen‐Hooijberg Tjisse van derHeide |
| author_facet | Annieke C. W. Borst Christine Angelini Anne tenBerge Leon Lamers Marlous Derksen‐Hooijberg Tjisse van derHeide |
| author_sort | Annieke C. W. Borst |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Foundation species are typically suggested to enhance community diversity non‐trophically by increasing habitat structure and mitigating physical stress, while their trophic role is considered of minor importance. Yet, there is little experimental evidence on the relative importance of trophic and non‐trophic effects and the interaction with patch size. Here, we transplanted different festoon sizes of living Tillandsia usneoides (Spanish moss) and structural mimics assessing the trophic and non‐trophic roles of this habitat‐forming epiphyte in mediating the invertebrate community. Compared to bare branches, mimics enhanced species and feeding guild richness and abundances, but living festoons even more so, demonstrating that trophic and non‐trophic effects jointly stimulated the community. Specifically, our results show that, independent of patch size, 40% of the total species richness and 46% of total guild richness increase could be contributed to habitat structure alone, while Spanish moss trophically stimulated these metrics by another 60% and 54%. As detritivores were particularly enhanced in living festoons, our findings suggest that trophic stimulation occurred primarily through the provisioning of Spanish moss detritus. Our results highlight that foundation species can facilitate their associated communities through both trophic and non‐trophic pathways, calling for studies addressing their indirect trophic role via the brown food web. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T14:45:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4fa24b9ca97846338292029f49cc1a87 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2150-8925 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T14:45:56Z |
| publishDate | 2019-09-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecosphere |
| spelling | doaj.art-4fa24b9ca97846338292029f49cc1a872022-12-22T02:42:45ZengWileyEcosphere2150-89252019-09-01109n/an/a10.1002/ecs2.2846Food or furniture: Separating trophic and non‐trophic effects of Spanish moss to explain its high invertebrate diversityAnnieke C. W. Borst0Christine Angelini1Anne tenBerge2Leon Lamers3Marlous Derksen‐Hooijberg4Tjisse van derHeide5Institute of Water and Wetland Research Radboud University Nijmegen Heyendaalseweg 135 Nijmegen 6525AJ The NetherlandsEnvironmental Engineering Sciences Engineering School for Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment University of Florida Gainesville Florida 32611 USAInstitute of Water and Wetland Research Radboud University Nijmegen Heyendaalseweg 135 Nijmegen 6525AJ The NetherlandsInstitute of Water and Wetland Research Radboud University Nijmegen Heyendaalseweg 135 Nijmegen 6525AJ The NetherlandsInstitute of Water and Wetland Research Radboud University Nijmegen Heyendaalseweg 135 Nijmegen 6525AJ The NetherlandsInstitute of Water and Wetland Research Radboud University Nijmegen Heyendaalseweg 135 Nijmegen 6525AJ The NetherlandsAbstract Foundation species are typically suggested to enhance community diversity non‐trophically by increasing habitat structure and mitigating physical stress, while their trophic role is considered of minor importance. Yet, there is little experimental evidence on the relative importance of trophic and non‐trophic effects and the interaction with patch size. Here, we transplanted different festoon sizes of living Tillandsia usneoides (Spanish moss) and structural mimics assessing the trophic and non‐trophic roles of this habitat‐forming epiphyte in mediating the invertebrate community. Compared to bare branches, mimics enhanced species and feeding guild richness and abundances, but living festoons even more so, demonstrating that trophic and non‐trophic effects jointly stimulated the community. Specifically, our results show that, independent of patch size, 40% of the total species richness and 46% of total guild richness increase could be contributed to habitat structure alone, while Spanish moss trophically stimulated these metrics by another 60% and 54%. As detritivores were particularly enhanced in living festoons, our findings suggest that trophic stimulation occurred primarily through the provisioning of Spanish moss detritus. Our results highlight that foundation species can facilitate their associated communities through both trophic and non‐trophic pathways, calling for studies addressing their indirect trophic role via the brown food web.https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2846brown food webdetritusfeeding guildsfood provisioningfoundation specieshabitat complexity |
| spellingShingle | Annieke C. W. Borst Christine Angelini Anne tenBerge Leon Lamers Marlous Derksen‐Hooijberg Tjisse van derHeide Food or furniture: Separating trophic and non‐trophic effects of Spanish moss to explain its high invertebrate diversity Ecosphere brown food web detritus feeding guilds food provisioning foundation species habitat complexity |
| title | Food or furniture: Separating trophic and non‐trophic effects of Spanish moss to explain its high invertebrate diversity |
| title_full | Food or furniture: Separating trophic and non‐trophic effects of Spanish moss to explain its high invertebrate diversity |
| title_fullStr | Food or furniture: Separating trophic and non‐trophic effects of Spanish moss to explain its high invertebrate diversity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Food or furniture: Separating trophic and non‐trophic effects of Spanish moss to explain its high invertebrate diversity |
| title_short | Food or furniture: Separating trophic and non‐trophic effects of Spanish moss to explain its high invertebrate diversity |
| title_sort | food or furniture separating trophic and non trophic effects of spanish moss to explain its high invertebrate diversity |
| topic | brown food web detritus feeding guilds food provisioning foundation species habitat complexity |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2846 |
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