Bottom-up and top-down effects combine to drive predator-prey interactions in a forest biodiversity experiment.

ABSTRACT: The bottom-up effect of producers and the top-down effect of predators are well-known factors shaping community assembly and ecosystem functioning through trophic interactions. Communities differing in their functional composition may induce ecological effects with varying directions and intensities, but previous studies in highly diverse ecosystems have struggled with reliably quantifying these interactions at the community level. We used spider gut-content metabarcoding in a subtropical tree diversity experiment to examine the impact of multiple diversity components of both trees and spiders on prey diversity and the network structure of predator-prey interactions. Our findings reveal that prey richness and spider-prey network structure are simultaneously driven by the bottom-up effects

SUBMITTER: Chen JT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12484389 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature