Deraison Hélène, Badenhausser Isabelle, Loeuille Nicolas, Scherber Christoph, Gross Nicolas
UMR7372, Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS-Université de La Rochelle, Villiers en Bois, 79360, Beauvoir sur Niort, France.
USC1339, Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, INRA, Villiers en Bois, 79360, Beauvoir sur Niort, France.
Ecol Lett. 2015 Dec;18(12):1346-55. doi: 10.1111/ele.12529. Epub 2015 Oct 6.
Understanding the consequences of trophic interactions for ecosystem functioning is challenging, as contrasting effects of species and functional diversity can be expected across trophic levels. We experimentally manipulated functional identity and diversity of grassland insect herbivores and tested their impact on plant community biomass. Herbivore resource acquisition traits, i.e. mandible strength and the diversity of mandibular traits, had more important effects on plant biomass than body size. Higher herbivore functional diversity increased overall impact on plant biomass due to feeding niche complementarity. Higher plant functional diversity limited biomass pre-emption by herbivores. The functional diversity within and across trophic levels therefore regulates the impact of functionally contrasting consumers on primary producers. By experimentally manipulating the functional diversity across trophic levels, our study illustrates how trait-based approaches constitute a promising way to tackle existing links between trophic interactions and ecosystem functioning.
了解营养级相互作用对生态系统功能的影响具有挑战性，因为在不同营养级上，物种和功能多样性的影响可能相反。我们通过实验操纵了草原食草昆虫的功能特性和多样性，并测试了它们对植物群落生物量的影响。食草动物的资源获取特性，即下颚强度和下颚特性的多样性，对植物生物量的影响比体型更为重要。由于取食生态位互补，较高的食草动物功能多样性增加了对植物生物量的总体影响。较高的植物功能多样性限制了食草动物对生物量的抢占。因此，营养级内部和营养级之间的功能多样性调节了功能不同的消费者对初级生产者的影响。通过实验操纵不同营养级的功能多样性，我们的研究说明了基于性状的方法如何构成一种有前途的方式来解决营养级相互作用与生态系统功能之间的现有联系。
