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Coupling of canopy and understory food webs by ground‐dwelling predators
Author(s) -
Pringle Robert M.,
FoxDobbs Kena
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01252.x
Subject(s) - predation , arboreal locomotion , understory , food web , ecology , biology , habitat , cursorial , canopy
Understanding food‐web dynamics requires knowing whether species assemblages are compartmentalized into distinct energy channels, and, if so, how these channels are structured in space. We used isotopic analyses to reconstruct the food web of a Kenyan wooded grassland. Insect prey were relatively specialized consumers of either C 3 (trees and shrubs) or C 4 (grasses) plants. Arboreal predators (arthropods and geckos) were also specialized, deriving c. 90% of their diet from C 3 ‐feeding prey. In contrast, ground‐dwelling predators preyed considerably upon both C 3 ‐ and C 4 ‐feeding prey. This asymmetry suggests a gravity‐driven subsidy of the terrestrial predator community, whereby tree‐dwelling prey fall and are consumed by ground‐dwelling predators. Thus, predators in general couple the C 3 and C 4 components of this food web, but ground‐dwelling predators perform this ecosystem function more effectively than tree‐dwelling ones. Although prey subsidies in vertically structured terrestrial habitats have received little attention, they are likely to be common and important to food‐web organization.