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Miguel B. Araújo Lab

Predicting the effects of environmental change on biodiversity

You are here: Home / Research Highlights / Climate shapes community trophic structures and humans simplify them

Climate shapes community trophic structures and humans simplify them

  • Nature Communications (2019 )
  • Authors: Manuel Mendoza & Miguel Araújo
  • Link to article: https://rdcu.be/bWUfI

Nature’s complexity is intriguing, but the circumstances determining whether or how order emerges from such complexity remains a matter of extensive research. Using the geographical distributions and food preferences of all terrestrial mammal species with masses >3 kg, we show that large mammals group into feeding guilds (species exploiting similar resources) and that these guilds form trophic structures that vary across biomes globally. We identify five trophic structures closely matching climate variability and named them boreal, temperate, semiarid, seasonal tropical and humid tropical owing to their relative overlap with the distribution of biomes. We also find that human activities simplify trophic structures, generally transitioning them to species-poorer states. Detected transitions include boreal and temperate structures becoming depauperate or seasonal- and humid-tropical becoming semiarid. Whether the observed generalities among trophic structures of large mammals are indicative of patterns across whole food webs is matter for further investigation. The results help refine projections of the effects of environmental change on the trophic structure of large mammals.

 

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News

  • A Geografia Mental de Putin
  • Farewell Ed Wilson
  • Farewell Tom Lovejoy
  • Joining NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme
  • BCSD Key note address

Outreach

  • From science to climate change adaptation action
  • Interview of Miguel Araújo in Amorim News
  • Improvements in reports of species redistribution under climate change required
  • Miguel B. Araujo Lab - Resumo de investigação passada e reflexão sobre investigação futura
  • The future of coastlands in the era of mega hurricanes

Opportunities

  • First call AQUACOSM-PLUS
  • La Caixa Foundation PhD studentship on climate change and protected areas
  • Two Post docs: Ecology & Conservation
  • Post-doc: Effects of climate change extremes on Caribbean biodiversity
  • Post doc - Modelling the effects of climate change extremes on Caribbean biodiversity

Research Highlights

Biogeography of bird and mammal trophic structures

Strategy games to improve environmental policymaking

Response of an Afro-Palearctic bird migrant to glaciation cycles

Improvements in reports of species redistribution under climate change are required

The evolution of critical thermal limits of life on Earth

Books

Ecological Niches and Geographic Distributions

Ecological Niches and Geographic Distributions

Atlas of Biodiversity Risk

Atlas of Biodiversity Risk

Spatial Conservation Prioritization

Spatial Conservation Prioritization

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