TY - UNPB

T1 - Latitudinal gradient in avian insectivory

T2 - complementary effects of climate, habitat and bird diversity

AU - Schillé, Laura

AU - Valdés-Correcher, Elena

AU - Archaux, Frédéric

AU - Bălăcenoiu, Flavius

AU - Bjørn, Mona Chor

AU - Bogdziewicz, Michal

AU - Boivin, Thomas

AU - Branco, Manuela

AU - Damestoy, Thomas

AU - Groot, Maarten de

AU - Dobrosavljević, Jovan

AU - Duduman, Mihai-Leonard

AU - Dulaurent, Anne-Maïmiti

AU - Green, Samantha

AU - Grünwald, Jan

AU - Eötvös, Csaba Béla

AU - Faticov, Maria

AU - Fernandez-Conradi, Pilar

AU - Flury, Elisabeth

AU - Funosas, David

AU - Galmán, Andrea

AU - Gossner, Martin M.

AU - Gripenberg, Sofia

AU - Grosu, Lucian

AU - Hagge, Jonas

AU - Hampe, Arndt

AU - Harvey, Deborah

AU - Houston, Rick

AU - Isenmann, Rita

AU - Kavčič, Andreja

AU - Kozlov, Mikhail V.

AU - Lanta, Vojtech

AU - Tilly, Bénédicte Le

AU - Vaamonde, Carlos Lopez

AU - Mallick, Soumen

AU - Mäntylä, Elina

AU - Mårell, Anders

AU - Milanović, Slobodan

AU - Molnár, Márton

AU - Moreira, Xoaquín

AU - Moser, Valentin

AU - Mrazova, Anna

AU - Musolin, Dmitrii L.

AU - Perot, Thomas

AU - Piotti, Andrea

AU - Popova, Anna V.

AU - Prinzing, Andreas

AU - Pukinskaya, Ludmila

AU - Sallé, Aurélien

AU - Sam, Katerina

AU - Sedikhin, Nickolay V.

AU - Shabarova, Tanja

AU - Tack, Ayco

AU - Thomas, Rebecca

AU - Thrikkadeeri, Karthik

AU - Toma, Dragoș

AU - Vaicaityte, Grete

AU - Halder, Inge van

AU - Varela, Zulema

AU - Barbaro, Luc

AU - Castagneyrol, Bastien

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Aim: According to the Latitudinal Biotic Interaction Hypothesis (LBIH), the general increase in biodiversity towards lower latitudes can be partially explained by an increase in the intensity of biotic interactions. While LBIH received some support for plant-herbivores interactions, much less is known about how higher trophic levels may contribute to shape biotic interactions across latitudinal gradients. We hypothesized that the diversity of insectivorous birds increases towards lower latitude, leading to higher predation rates on insect herbivores.Location: Europe.Taxon: Insectivorous birds and pedunculate oaks.Methods: We deployed plasticine caterpillars in 138 oak trees in 47 sites along a 19° latitudinal gradient in Europe to quantify bird insectivory through predation attempts. In addition, we used passive acoustic monitoring to (i) characterize the acoustic diversity of surrounding soundscapes; and (ii) infer both taxonomic and functional diversity of insectivorous birds from recordings.Results: The functional diversity of insectivorous birds increased towards lower latitude. Bird predation increased with latitude, forest cover and bird acoustic diversity but decreased with mean annual temperature and functional richness of insectivorous birds. Contrary to our predictions, latitudinal clines in bird predation attempts were not directly mediated by changes in insectivorous bird diversity or acoustic diversity, but latitude and habitat still had independent effects on predation attempts.Main conclusions: Our study does not fully support the predictions of the LBIH of more biotic interactions southwards and advocates for better accounting for activity and abundance of insectivorous birds when studying the large-scale variation in insect-tree interactions.

AB - Aim: According to the Latitudinal Biotic Interaction Hypothesis (LBIH), the general increase in biodiversity towards lower latitudes can be partially explained by an increase in the intensity of biotic interactions. While LBIH received some support for plant-herbivores interactions, much less is known about how higher trophic levels may contribute to shape biotic interactions across latitudinal gradients. We hypothesized that the diversity of insectivorous birds increases towards lower latitude, leading to higher predation rates on insect herbivores.Location: Europe.Taxon: Insectivorous birds and pedunculate oaks.Methods: We deployed plasticine caterpillars in 138 oak trees in 47 sites along a 19° latitudinal gradient in Europe to quantify bird insectivory through predation attempts. In addition, we used passive acoustic monitoring to (i) characterize the acoustic diversity of surrounding soundscapes; and (ii) infer both taxonomic and functional diversity of insectivorous birds from recordings.Results: The functional diversity of insectivorous birds increased towards lower latitude. Bird predation increased with latitude, forest cover and bird acoustic diversity but decreased with mean annual temperature and functional richness of insectivorous birds. Contrary to our predictions, latitudinal clines in bird predation attempts were not directly mediated by changes in insectivorous bird diversity or acoustic diversity, but latitude and habitat still had independent effects on predation attempts.Main conclusions: Our study does not fully support the predictions of the LBIH of more biotic interactions southwards and advocates for better accounting for activity and abundance of insectivorous birds when studying the large-scale variation in insect-tree interactions.

U2 - 10.1101/2023.01.19.524212

DO - 10.1101/2023.01.19.524212

M3 - Preprint

BT - Latitudinal gradient in avian insectivory

PB - bioRxiv

ER -