@article{fdi:010074084,
  title = {{F}unctional traits and environmental conditions predict community isotopic niches and energy pathways across spatial scales},
  author = {{D}{\'e}zerald, {O}. and {S}rivastava, {D}. {S}. and {C}{\'e}r{\'e}ghino, {R}. and {C}arrias, {J}. {F}. and {C}orbara, {B}. and {F}arjalla, {V}. {F}. and {L}eroy, {C}{\'e}line and {M}arino, {N}. {A}. {C}. and {P}iccoli, {G}. {C}. {O}. and {R}ichardson, {B}. {A}. and {R}ichardson, {M}. {J}. and {R}omero, {G}. {Q}. and {G}onzalez, {A}. {L}.},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {1. {D}espite ongoing research in food web ecology and functional biogeography, the links between food web structure, functional traits and environmental conditions across spatial scales remain poorly understood. {T}rophic niches, defined as the amount of energy and elemental space occupied by species and food webs, may help bridge this divide. 2. {H}ere, we ask how the functional traits of species, the environmental conditions of habitats and the spatial scale of analysis jointly determine the characteristics of trophic niches. {W}e used isotopic niches as a proxy of trophic niches, and conducted analyses at spatial scales ranging from local food webs and metacommunities to geographically distant sites. 3. {W}e sampled aquatic macroinvertebrates from 104 tank bromeliads distributed across five sites from {C}entral to {S}outh {A}merica and compiled the macroinvertebrates' functional traits and stable isotope values (delta {N}-15 and delta {C}-13). {W}e assessed how isotopic niches within each bromeliad were influenced by the functional trait composition of their associated invertebrates and environmental conditions (i.e., habitat size, canopy cover [{CC}] and detrital concentration [{DC}]). {W}e then evaluated whether the diet of dominant predators and, consequently, energy pathways within food webs reflected functional and environmental changes among bromeliads across sites. {A}t last, we determined the extent to which the isotopic niches of macroinvertebrates within each bromeliad contributed to the metacommunity isotopic niches within each site and compared these metacommunity-level niches over biogeographic scales. 4. {A}t the bromeliad level, isotopic niches increased with the functional richness of species in the food web and the {DC} in the bromeliad. {T}he diet of top predators tracked shifts in prey biomass along gradients of {CC} and {DC}. {B}romeliads that grew under heterogeneous {CC} displayed less trophic redundancy and therefore combined to form larger metacommunity isotopic niches. {A}t last, the size of metacommunity niches depended on within-site heterogeneity in {CC}. 5. {O}ur results suggest that the trophic niches occupied by food webs can predictably scale from local food webs to metacommunities to biogeographic regions. {T}his scaling process is determined by both the functional traits of species and heterogeneity in environmental conditions.},
  keywords = {energy pathways ; environmental heterogeneity ; food webs ; functional biogeography ; functional diversity ; isotopic niche ; metacommunity ; trophic structure ; {COSTA} {RICA} ; {PUERTO} {RICO} ; {GUYANE} {FRANCAISE} ; {BRESIL}},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{F}unctional {E}cology},
  volume = {32},
  numero = {10},
  pages = {2423--2434},
  ISSN = {0269-8463},
  year = {2018},
  DOI = {10.1111/1365-2435.13142},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010074084},
}