Consumer biodiversity increases organic nutrient availability across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
Human land-use intensification threatens arthropod (for example, insect and spider) biodiversity across aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Insects and spiders play critical roles in ecosystems by accumulating and synthesizing organic nutrients such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). However, links between biodiversity and nutrient content of insect and spider communities have yet to be quantified. We relate insect and spider richness to biomass and PUFA-mass from stream and terrestrial communities encompassing nine land uses. PUFA-mass and biomass relate positively to biodiversity across ecosystems. In terrestrial systems, human-dominated areas have lower biomass and PUFA-mass than more natural areas, even at equivalent levels of richness. Aquatic ecosystems have consistently higher PUFA-mass than terrestrial ecosystems. Our findings reinforce the importance of conserving biodiversity and highlight the distinctive benefits of aquatic biodiversity.
Authors
- Rebecca Oester (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9192-6882)
- Carmen Kowarik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5530-0882)
- Dominik Martin‐Creuzburg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4248-0730)
- Margaux Mathieu‐Resuge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6927-3400)
- Maja Ilíć (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8387-9932)
- Martin J. Kainz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2388-1504)
- Martin M. Goßner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1516-6364)
- Cornelia W. Twining (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4346-8856)
- Catherine Helen Graham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9267-7948)
- Tarn Preet Parmar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1321-6893)
- Martin К. Obrist (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6766-044X)
- J. Ryan Shipley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9864-2498)
- Blake Matthews (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9089-704X)
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Universität für Weiterbildung Krems (AT)
- University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (CH)
- Ifremer (FR)
- Université de Bretagne Occidentale (FR)
- Universität Innsbruck (AT)
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Wasser Cluster Lunz (AT)
- Helios Hospital Bad Saarow (DE)
- Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (DE)
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (CH)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2024-10-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adp6198
- Citations
- 13
- Primary Topic
- Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.67
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Austrian Science Fund
- Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej
- Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology