Open AccessMolecular analyses reveal consistent food web structure with elevation in rainforest Drosophila – parasitoid communities
Author(s) -
Jeffs Christopher T.,
Terry J. Christopher D.,
Higgie Megan,
Jandová Anna,
Konvičková Hana,
Brown Joel J.,
Lue Chia Hua,
Schiffer Michele,
O'Brien Eleanor K.,
Bridle Jon,
Hrček Jan,
Lewis Owen T.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ecography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.973
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1600-0587
pISSN - 0906-7590
DOI - 10.1111/ecog.05390
Subject(s) - parasitoid , ecology , nestedness , biology , rainforest , food web , elevation (ballistics) , community structure , abundance (ecology) , community , host (biology) , ecological network , parasitism , relative species abundance , habitat , trophic level , ecosystem , geometry , mathematics
The analysis of interaction networks across spatial environmental gradients is a powerful approach to investigate the responses of communities to global change. Using a combination of DNA metabarcoding and traditional molecular methods we built bipartite Drosophila – parasitoid food webs from six Australian rainforest sites across gradients spanning 850 m in elevation and 5°C in mean temperature. Our cost‐effective hierarchical approach to network reconstruction separated the determination of host frequencies from the detection and quantification of interactions. The food webs comprised 5–9 host and 5–11 parasitoid species at each site, and showed a lower incidence of parasitism at high elevation. Despite considerable turnover in the relative abundance of host Drosophila species, and contrary to some previous results, we did not detect significant changes to fundamental metrics of network structure including nestedness and specialisation with elevation. Advances in community ecology depend on data from a combination of methodological approaches. It is therefore especially valuable to develop model study systems for sets of closely‐interacting species that are diverse enough to be representative, yet still amenable to field and laboratory experiments.