Abstract
The species-energy hypothesis predicts increasing biodiversity with increasing energy in ecosystems. Proxies for energy availability are often grouped into ambient energy (i.e., solar radiation) and substrate energy (i.e., non-structural carbohydrates or nutritional content). The relative importance of substrate energy is thought to decrease with increasing trophic level from primary consumers to predators, with reciprocal effects of ambient energy. Yet, empirical tests are lacking. We compiled data on 332,557 deadwood-inhabiting beetles of 901 species reared from wood of 49 tree species across Europe. Using host-phylogeny-controlled models, we show that the relative importance of substrate energy versus ambient energy decreases with increasing trophic levels: the diversity of zoophagous and mycetophagous beetles was determined by ambient energy, while non-structural carbohydrate content in woody tissues determined that of xylophagous beetles. Our study thus overall supports the species-energy hypothesis and specifies that the relative importance of ambient temperature increases with increasing trophic level with opposite effects for substrate energy.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1157-1173 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Ecology Letters |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 7 |
Early online date | 8 May 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2023 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Copyright the Author(s) 2023. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.Keywords
- biodiversity
- coleoptera
- deadwood
- Europe
- saproxylic
- species-energy hypothesis
- trophic guild