Title: | Fossil leaves reveal drivers of herbivore functional diversity during the Cenozoic |
Author(s): | Albrecht J; Wappler T; Fritz SA; Schleuning M; |
Address: | "Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt am Main 60325, Germany. Natural History Department, Hessian State Museum, Darmstadt 64283, Germany. Department of Palaeontology, Institute of Geosciences, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn, Bonn 53115, Germany. Institut fur Geowissenschaften, Goethe-Universitat Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main 60438, Germany" |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1091-6490 (Electronic) 0027-8424 (Print) 0027-8424 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "Herbivorous arthropods are the most diverse group of multicellular organisms on Earth. The most discussed drivers of their inordinate taxonomic and functional diversity are high niche availability associated with the diversity of host plants and dense niche packing due to host partitioning among herbivores. However, the relative contributions of these two factors to dynamics in the diversity of herbivores throughout Earth's history remain unresolved. Using fossil data on herbivore-induced leaf damage from across the Cenozoic, we infer quantitative bipartite interaction networks between plants and functional feeding types of herbivores. We fit a general model of diversity to these interaction networks and discover that host partitioning among functional groups of herbivores contributed twice as much to herbivore functional diversity as host diversity. These findings indicate that niche packing primarily shaped the dynamics in the functional diversity of herbivores during the past 66 my. Our study highlights how the fossil record can be used to test fundamental theories of biodiversity and represents a benchmark for assessing the drivers of herbivore functional diversity in modern ecosystems" |
Keywords: | Animals *Herbivory Ecosystem Fossils *Arthropods Biodiversity Plant Leaves Plants fossil leaf damage herbivore functional diversity niche availability niche packing plant-herbivore interactions; |
Notes: | "MedlineAlbrecht, Jorg Wappler, Torsten Fritz, Susanne A Schleuning, Matthias eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2023/07/31 Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Aug 8; 120(32):e2300514120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2300514120. Epub 2023 Jul 31" |