Declines in plant palatability from polar to tropical latitudes depend on herbivore and plant identity.

ABSTRACT: Long-standing theory predicts that the intensity of consumer-prey interactions declines with increasing latitude, yet for plant-herbivore interactions, latitudinal changes in herbivory rates and plant palatability have received variable support. The topic is of growing interest given that lower-latitude species are moving poleward at an accelerating rate due to climate change, and predicting local interactions will depend partly on whether latitudinal gradients occur in these critical biotic interactions. Here, we assayed the palatability of 50 seaweeds collected from polar (Antarctica), temperate (northeastern Pacific; California), and tropical (central Pacific; Fiji) locations to two herbivores native to the tropical and subtropical Atlantic, the generalist crab Mithraculus sculptus and

SUBMITTER: Demko AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5581272 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature