Climate or diet? The importance of biotic interactions in determining species range size
Galiana, Nuria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Lurgi Rivera, Miguel (Swansea University. Department of Biosciences)
Montoya, José M. (Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station)
Araújo, Miguel B. (Universidade de Évora)
Galbraith, Eric (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)

Date:	2023
Abstract:	Aim: Species geographical range sizes play a crucial role in determining species vulnerability to extinction. Although several mechanisms affect range sizes, the number of biotic interactions and species climatic tolerance are often thought to play discernible roles, defining two dimensions of the Hutchinsonian niche. Yet, the relative importance of the trophic and the climatic niche for determining species range sizes is largely unknown. Location: Central and northern Europe. Time period: Present. Major taxa studied: Gall-inducing sawflies and their parasitoids. Methods: We use data documenting the spatial distributions and biotic interactions of 96 herbivore species, and their 125 parasitoids, across Europe and analyse the relationship between species range size and the climatic and trophic dimensions of the niche. We then compare the observed relationships with null expectations based on species occupancy to understand whether the relationships observed are an inevitable consequence of species range size or if they contain information about the importance of each dimension of the niche on species range size. Results: We find that both niche dimensions are positively correlated with species range size, with larger ranges being associated with wider climatic tolerances and larger numbers of interactions. However, diet breadth appears to more strongly limit species range size. Species with larger ranges have more interactions locally and they are also able to interact with a larger diversity of species across sites (i. e. higher β-diversity), resulting in a larger number of interactions at continental scales. Main conclusions: We show for the first time how different aspects of species diet niches are related to their range size. Our study offers new insight into the importance of biotic interactions in determining species spatial distributions, which is critical for improving understanding and predictions of species vulnerability to extinction under the current rates of global environmental change.
Grants:	European Commission 101025471 European Commission 682602 Agencia Estatal de Investigación PGC2018-099363-B-I00
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Biotic interactions ; Climatic niche ; Dietary niche ; Hutchinsonian niche ; Null models ; Species range size
Published in:	Global Ecology and Biogeography, (April 2023) , ISSN 1466-8238

DOI: 10.1111/geb.13686

11 p, 1001.8 KB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles