Abstract
AbstractNumerous studies revealed a positive relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, suggesting that biodiverse environments may not only enhance ecosystem processes, but also benefit individual ecosystem members by, for example, providing a higher diversity of resources. Whether and how the number of available resources affects resource collection and subsequently consumers (e.g., through impacting functions associated with resources) have, however, been little investigated, although a better understanding of this relationship may help explain why the abundance and richness of many animal species typically decline with decreasing plant (resource) diversity. Using a social bee species as model (Tetragonula carbonaria), we investigated how plant species richness—recorded for study sites located in different habitats—and associated resource abundance affected the diversity and functionality (here defined as nutritional content and antimicrobial activity) of resources (i.e., pollen, nectar, and resin) collected by a generalist herbivorous consumer. The diversity of both pollen and resin collected strongly increased with increasing plant/tree species richness, while resource abundance was only positively correlated with resin diversity. These findings suggest that bees maximize resource diversity intake in (resource) diverse habitats. Collecting more diverse resources did, however, not increase their functionality, which appeared to be primarily driven by the surrounding (plant) source community in our study. In generalist herbivores, maximizing resource diversity intake may therefore primarily secure collection of sufficient amounts of resources across the entire foraging season, but it also ensures that the allocated resources meet all functional needs. Decreasing available resource diversity may thus impact consumers primarily by reduced resource abundance, but also by reduced resource functionality, particularly when resources of high functionality (e.g., from specific plant species) become scarce.
Highlights
Biodiversity is a critical driver of ecosystem functioning, as it maintains the stability of ecosystem processes and provides insurance against changing environmental conditions (Loreau et al 2001)
We investigated how the resource intake of a generalist consumer responds to changes in plant resource diversity and abundance, and whether and how resource diversity and abundance affect the functionality of the allocated resources
Experimental setup We investigated how plant resource richness and abundance affect the diversity and functionality of resources collected by bees in different landscapes using the common Australian stingless bee T. carbonaria (Apidae, Meliponini; Rasmussen and Cameron 2007)
Summary
Biodiversity is a critical driver of ecosystem functioning, as it maintains the stability of ecosystem processes and provides insurance against changing environmental conditions (Loreau et al 2001). The same ecosystem process can be supported by multiple species or functional groups in diverse ecosystems which are functionally redundant, increasing resilience of the whole system (Blu€thgen and Klein 2011). This increased resilience in ecosystem functioning due to higher biodiversity has frequently been demonstrated (Brittain et al 2013, Garibaldi et al 2013). We still do not fully understand whether and, if so, how increased resource diversity affect resource collection in generalist consumers They could, in theory, respond to increased available resource diversity in two ways: (1) by maximizing collected resource diversity ( referred to as “diversity maximization”) or (2) by targeting a specific number of collected resources sufficient to cover all functional needs, leading to a saturation in collected resource diversity ( referred to as “diversity restriction”). Active maximization should result in a constantly more even distribution of different resources, while passive maximization should lead to a more uneven resource distribution (as some plant sources are typically more abundant in environments than others)
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