Abstract
Nature’s complexity is intriguing, but the circumstances determining whether or how order emerges from such complexity remains a matter of extensive research. Using the geographical distributions and food preferences of all terrestrial mammal species with masses >3 kg, we show that large mammals group into feeding guilds (species exploiting similar resources) and that these guilds form trophic structures that vary across biomes globally. We identify five trophic structures closely matching climate variability and named them boreal, temperate, semiarid, seasonal tropical and humid tropical owing to their relative overlap with the distribution of biomes. We also find that human activities simplify trophic structures, generally transitioning them to species-poorer states. Detected transitions include boreal and temperate structures becoming depauperate or seasonal- and humid-tropical becoming semiarid. Whether the observed generalities among trophic structures of large mammals are indicative of patterns across whole food webs is matter for further investigation. The results help refine projections of the effects of environmental change on the trophic structure of large mammals.
Highlights
Nature’s complexity is intriguing, but the circumstances determining whether or how order emerges from such complexity remains a matter of extensive research
If broad-scale functional properties of communities, such as trophic structures, could be inferred from characteristics of the physical environment, projections of environmental change effects on these functional properties could be made without detailed knowledge of the myriad direct and indirect biotic interactions that occur in nature
We identify five community-trophic structures among large mammal species broadly matching the distribution of biomes
Summary
Nature’s complexity is intriguing, but the circumstances determining whether or how order emerges from such complexity remains a matter of extensive research. The results help refine projections of the effects of environmental change on the trophic structure of large mammals Before embarking on his expedition to South America, Alexander von Humboldt wrote1: “I shall endeavour to find out how nature's forces act upon one another, and in what manner the geographic environment exerts its influence on animals and plants.”. If broad-scale functional properties of communities, such as trophic structures, could be inferred from characteristics of the physical environment, projections of environmental change effects on these functional properties could be made without detailed knowledge of the myriad direct and indirect biotic interactions that occur in nature. The prediction is supported by the data with areas featuring high human impacts closely matching the distribution of simplified community trophic structures
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