Data from: The effects of food web structure on ecosystem function exceeds those of precipitation

Two represented food webs containing both a fast filter feeder-microbial and slow detritivore energy channels found in Costa Rica and Puerto Rico, and one represented the structurally simpler food webs in French Guiana, which only contained the fast filter feeder-microbial channel. We manipulated the amount and distribution of rain entering bromeliads, and examined how food web structure mediated ecosystem responses to changes in the quantity and temporal distribution of precipitation.

Food web structure affected the survival of functional groups in general, and ecosystem functions such as decomposition and the production of fine particulate organic matter. Ecosystem processes were more affected by decreased precipitation than were the abundance of microorganisms and metazoans. In our experiments, the sensitivity of the ecosystem to precipitation change was primarily revealed in the food web dominated by the single filter feeder-microbial channel because other top-down and bottom-up processes were weak or absent.

Our results show stronger effects of food web structure than precipitation change per se on the functioning of bromeliad ecosystems. Consequently, we predict that ecosystem function in bromeliads throughout the Americas will be more sensitive to changes in the distribution of species, rather than to the direct effects caused by changes in precipitation.

Usage notes

Trzcinski Dryad data all Data collected in field experiment on aquatic communities living within bromeliads in French Guiana. Dryad data all.xlsx