TY - JOUR

T1 - Decomposing drivers in avian insectivory

T2 - Large-scale 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 - de Groot, Maarten

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 - Le Tilly, Bénédicte

AU - Lopez-Vaamonde, Carlos

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 J.M.

AU - Thomas, Rebecca

AU - Thrikkadeeri, Karthik

AU - Toma, Dragoș

AU - Vaicaityte, Grete

AU - van Halder, Inge

AU - Varela, Zulema

AU - Barbaro, Luc

AU - Castagneyrol, Bastien

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Aim: Climate is a major driver of large-scale variability in biodiversity, as a likely result of more intense biotic interactions under warmer conditions. This idea fuelled decades of research on plant-herbivore interactions, but much less is known about higher-level trophic interactions. We addressed this research gap by characterizing both bird diversity and avian predation along a climatic gradient at the European scale. 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; (ii) approximate bird abundance and activity through passive acoustic recordings; and (iii) infer both taxonomic and functional diversity of insectivorous birds from recordings. Results: The functional diversity of insectivorous birds increased with warmer climates. Bird predation increased with forest cover and bird acoustic activity but decreased with mean annual temperature and functional richness of insectivorous birds. Contrary to our predictions, climatic clines in bird predation attempts were not directly mediated by changes in insectivorous bird diversity or acoustic activity, but climate and habitat still had independent effects on predation attempts. Main Conclusions: Our study supports the hypothesis of an increase in the diversity of insectivorous birds towards warmer climates but refutes the idea that an increase in diversity would lead to more predation and advocates for better accounting for activity and abundance of insectivorous birds when studying the large-scale variation in insect-tree interactions.

AB - Aim: Climate is a major driver of large-scale variability in biodiversity, as a likely result of more intense biotic interactions under warmer conditions. This idea fuelled decades of research on plant-herbivore interactions, but much less is known about higher-level trophic interactions. We addressed this research gap by characterizing both bird diversity and avian predation along a climatic gradient at the European scale. 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; (ii) approximate bird abundance and activity through passive acoustic recordings; and (iii) infer both taxonomic and functional diversity of insectivorous birds from recordings. Results: The functional diversity of insectivorous birds increased with warmer climates. Bird predation increased with forest cover and bird acoustic activity but decreased with mean annual temperature and functional richness of insectivorous birds. Contrary to our predictions, climatic clines in bird predation attempts were not directly mediated by changes in insectivorous bird diversity or acoustic activity, but climate and habitat still had independent effects on predation attempts. Main Conclusions: Our study supports the hypothesis of an increase in the diversity of insectivorous birds towards warmer climates but refutes the idea that an increase in diversity would lead to more predation and advocates for better accounting for activity and abundance of insectivorous birds when studying the large-scale variation in insect-tree interactions.

KW - acoustic diversity

KW - climatic gradient

KW - functional diversity

KW - insectivorous birds

KW - plasticine caterpillars

KW - predation function

U2 - 10.1111/jbi.14808

DO - 10.1111/jbi.14808

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85184698569

VL - 51

SP - 1079

EP - 1094

JO - Journal of Biogeography

JF - Journal of Biogeography

SN - 0305-0270

IS - 6

ER -