Changes in plant-herbivore network structure and robustness along land-use intensity gradients in grasslands and forests

Neff, Felix; Brändle, Martin; Ambarlı, Didem; Ammer, Christian; Bauhus, Jürgen; Boch, Steffen; Hölzel, Norbert; Klaus, Valentin H.; Kleinebecker, Till; Prati, Daniel; Schall, Peter; Schäfer, Deborah; Schulze, Ernst-Detlef; Seibold, Sebastian; Simons, Nadja K.; Weisser, Wolfgang W.; Pellissier, Loïc; Gossner, Martin M. (2021). Changes in plant-herbivore network structure and robustness along land-use intensity gradients in grasslands and forests. Science Advances, 7(20), eabf3985. American Association for the Advancement of Science 10.1126/sciadv.abf3985

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Land-use intensification poses major threats to biodiversity, such as to insect herbivore communities. The stability of these communities depends on interactions linking herbivores and host plants. How interaction network structure begets robustness, and thus stability, in different ecosystems and how network structure and robustness are altered along land-use intensity gradients are unclear. We analyzed plant-herbivore networks based on literature-derived interactions and long-term sampling from 289 grasslands and forests in three regions of Germany. Network size and nestedness were the most important determinants of network robustness in both ecosystems. Along land-use intensity gradients, networks in moderately grazed grasslands were more robust than in those managed by frequent mowing or fertilization. In forests, changes of network robustness along land-use intensity gradients relied on changes in plant species richness. Our results expand our knowledge of the stability of plant-herbivore networks and indicate options for management aimed at stabilizing herbivore communities.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

13 Central Units > Administrative Director's Office > Botanical Garden
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS) > Plant Ecology
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS)

UniBE Contributor:

Boch, Steffen, Prati, Daniel, Schäfer, Deborah

Subjects:

500 Science > 580 Plants (Botany)

ISSN:

2375-2548

Publisher:

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Language:

English

Submitter:

Peter Alfred von Ballmoos-Haas

Date Deposited:

11 Jun 2021 09:35

Last Modified:

03 Jul 2023 02:35

Publisher DOI:

10.1126/sciadv.abf3985

PubMed ID:

33990326

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/156495

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/156495

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