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Top-down effects of foraging decisions on local, landscape and regional biodiversity of resources (DivGUD)
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  • Jana Eccard,
  • Clara Ferreira,
  • Andres Peredo Arce,
  • Melanie Dammhahn
Jana Eccard
University of Potsdam

Corresponding Author:eccard@uni-potsdam.de

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Clara Ferreira
University of Potsdam
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Andres Peredo Arce
University of Potsdam
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Melanie Dammhahn
Universitat Potsdam
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Abstract

Foraging by consumers acts as a biotic filtering mechanism for biodiversity at the trophic level of resources. Variation in foraging behaviour have cascading effects on abundance, diversity, and functional trait composition of the community of resource species. Here we propose diversity at giving-up density (DivGUD), when foragers quit exploring a patch, as a novel concept and simple measure to quantify these effects at multiple spatial scales. In experimental landscapes, patch residency of wild rodents decreased local α-DivGUD (via elevated mortality of species with large seeds) and regional γ-DivGUD, while dissimilarity among patches in a landscape (ß-DivGUD) increased. Thus, DivGUD provides a framework linking theories of adaptive foraging behaviour with community ecology allowing to investigate cascading indirect predation effects across multiple trophic levels e.g. the ecology-of-fear framework; feedbacks between functional trait composition of resource species and consumer communities; and effects of inter-individual differences among foragers on the biodiversity of resource communities.
20 Jul 2021Submitted to Ecology Letters
21 Jul 2021Submission Checks Completed
21 Jul 2021Assigned to Editor
26 Jul 2021Reviewer(s) Assigned
31 Aug 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
02 Sep 2021Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
17 Sep 20211st Revision Received
17 Sep 2021Submission Checks Completed
17 Sep 2021Assigned to Editor
18 Sep 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
21 Sep 2021Editorial Decision: Accept
Jan 2022Published in Ecology Letters volume 25 issue 1 on pages 3-16. 10.1111/ele.13901