Decomposing drivers in avian insectivory: Large-scale effects of climate, habitat and bird diversity

Decomposing drivers in avian insectivory: Large-scale effects of climate, habitat and bird diversity. Schillé, L., Valdés-Correcher, E., Archaux, F., Bălăcenoiu, F., Bjørn, M. C., Bogdziewicz, M., Boivin, T., Branco, M., Damestoy, T., de Groot, M., Dobrosavljević, J., Duduman, M., Dulaurent, A., Green, S., Grünwald, J., Eötvös, C. B., Faticov, M., Fernandez-Conradi, P., Flury, E., Funosas, D., Galmán, A., Gossner, M. M., Gripenberg, S., Grosu, L., Hagge, J., Hampe, A., Harvey, D., Houston, R., Isenmann, R., Kavčič, A., Kozlov, M. V., Lanta, V., Le Tilly, B., Lopez-Vaamonde, C., Mallick, S., Mäntylä, E., Mårell, A., Milanović, S., Molnár, M., Moreira, X., Moser, V., Mrazova, A., Musolin, D. L., Perot, T., Piotti, A., Popova, A. V., Prinzing, A., Pukinskaya, L., Sallé, A., Sam, K., Sedikhin, N. V., Shabarova, T., Tack, A. J. M., Thomas, R., Thrikkadeeri, K., Toma, D., Vaicaityte, G., van Halder, I., Varela, Z., Barbaro, L., & Castagneyrol, B. Journal of Biogeography, February, 2024.

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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.

@article{schille_decomposing_2024,
	title = {Decomposing drivers in avian insectivory: {Large}-scale effects of climate, habitat and bird diversity},
	volume = {51},
	copyright = {© 2024 John Wiley \& Sons Ltd.},
	issn = {1365-2699},
	shorttitle = {Decomposing drivers in avian insectivory},
	url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14808},
	doi = {10.1111/jbi.14808},
	abstract = {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.},
	language = {en},
	number = {6},
	urldate = {2024-02-20},
	journal = {Journal of Biogeography},
	author = {Schillé, Laura and Valdés-Correcher, Elena and Archaux, Frédéric and Bălăcenoiu, Flavius and Bjørn, Mona Chor and Bogdziewicz, Michal and Boivin, Thomas and Branco, Manuela and Damestoy, Thomas and de Groot, Maarten and Dobrosavljević, Jovan and Duduman, Mihai-Leonard and Dulaurent, Anne-Maïmiti and Green, Samantha and Grünwald, Jan and Eötvös, Csaba Béla and Faticov, Maria and Fernandez-Conradi, Pilar and Flury, Elisabeth and Funosas, David and Galmán, Andrea and Gossner, Martin M. and Gripenberg, Sofia and Grosu, Lucian and Hagge, Jonas and Hampe, Arndt and Harvey, Deborah and Houston, Rick and Isenmann, Rita and Kavčič, Andreja and Kozlov, Mikhail V. and Lanta, Vojtech and Le Tilly, Bénédicte and Lopez-Vaamonde, Carlos and Mallick, Soumen and Mäntylä, Elina and Mårell, Anders and Milanović, Slobodan and Molnár, Márton and Moreira, Xoaquín and Moser, Valentin and Mrazova, Anna and Musolin, Dmitrii L. and Perot, Thomas and Piotti, Andrea and Popova, Anna V. and Prinzing, Andreas and Pukinskaya, Ludmila and Sallé, Aurélien and Sam, Katerina and Sedikhin, Nickolay V. and Shabarova, Tanja and Tack, Ayco J. M. and Thomas, Rebecca and Thrikkadeeri, Karthik and Toma, Dragoș and Vaicaityte, Grete and van Halder, Inge and Varela, Zulema and Barbaro, Luc and Castagneyrol, Bastien},
	month = feb,
	year = {2024},
}

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