Hale et al. published an article titled "A highly resolved network reveals the role of terrestrial herbivory in structuring aboveground food webs" in the theme issue 'Connected interactions: enriching food web research by spatial and social interactions.'
The article discusses the construction of the most comprehensive and extensive aboveground terrestrial food web (ATFW) to date, which comprises over 580,000 feeding interactions and 3,800 species, using over a century of data. The food web displays two unique characteristics: a significant fraction of carnivory interactions are dominated by a small number of hyper-generalist, opportunistic bird and bat predators, and a smaller fraction of herbivory interactions is dominated by a highly diverse community of insects with specific diets. This ATFW is a step towards documenting the tremendous taxonomic diversity and trophic complexity in the temperate forests of the Biological Station of the University of Michigan.
Hale Kayla R. S., Curlis John David, Auteri Giorgia G., Bishop Sasha, French Rowan L. K., Jones Lance E., Mills Kirby L., Scholtens Brian G., Simons Meagan, Thompson Cody, Tourville Jordon and Valdovinos Fernanda S. 2024 A highly resolved network reveals the role of terrestrial herbivory in structuring aboveground food webs Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B37920230180 http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2023.0180
Comments