TY - JOUR
T1 - Non-native ungulates indirectly impact foliar arthropods but not soil function
AU - Rodriguez-Cabal, Mariano A.
AU - Barrios-Garcia, M. Noelia
AU - Greyson-Gaito, Christopher J.
AU - Slinn, Heather L.
AU - Tapella, M. Paz
AU - Vitali, Agustín
AU - Crutsinger, Gregory M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
PY - 2019/10/15
Y1 - 2019/10/15
N2 - One of the greatest challenges in contemporary ecology is to understand how the homogenization of biodiversity at all levels of organization and spatial scales will influence the assembly of communities and the functioning of ecosystems. Such homogenization can occur through the gain of non-native species and the loss of native species. Here, we show that by disrupting a keystone mutualistic interaction, non-native ungulates indirectly impact foliar arthropod abundance and richness, but not soil properties (soil respiration, temperature and humidity), in a temperate forest of Patagonia. The results of this study show that the gain of non-native ungulates and the loss of a key interaction can trigger unnoticed cascading effects. Our findings highlight the importance of assessing biodiversity not only as the sum of different components but also through the direct and indirect interactions among them.
AB - One of the greatest challenges in contemporary ecology is to understand how the homogenization of biodiversity at all levels of organization and spatial scales will influence the assembly of communities and the functioning of ecosystems. Such homogenization can occur through the gain of non-native species and the loss of native species. Here, we show that by disrupting a keystone mutualistic interaction, non-native ungulates indirectly impact foliar arthropod abundance and richness, but not soil properties (soil respiration, temperature and humidity), in a temperate forest of Patagonia. The results of this study show that the gain of non-native ungulates and the loss of a key interaction can trigger unnoticed cascading effects. Our findings highlight the importance of assessing biodiversity not only as the sum of different components but also through the direct and indirect interactions among them.
KW - Arthropod community
KW - Indirect effects
KW - Introduced herbivores
KW - Keystone interactions
KW - Soil microbes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85067008883&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10530-019-02030-9
DO - 10.1007/s10530-019-02030-9
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85067008883
SN - 1387-3547
VL - 21
SP - 3077
EP - 3084
JO - Biological Invasions
JF - Biological Invasions
IS - 10
ER -