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Seed predation increases from the Arctic to the Equator and from high to low elevations

View ORCID ProfileA.L. Hargreaves, Esteban Suárez, View ORCID ProfileKlaus Mehltreter, View ORCID ProfileIsla Myers-Smith, View ORCID ProfileSula E. Vanderplank, View ORCID ProfileHeather L. Slinn, Yalma L. Vargas-Rodriguez, Sybille Haeussler, Santiago David, Jenny Muñoz, R. Carlos Almazán-Núñez, Deirdre Loughnan, John W. Benning, View ORCID ProfileDavid A. Moeller, Jedediah F. Brodie, View ORCID ProfileHaydn J.D. Thomas, P.A. Morales M
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/304634
A.L. Hargreaves
1†Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Dr Penfield Ave, Montreal QC, H3A 1B1, Canada.
2Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, British Columbia, Canada.
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  • For correspondence: anna.hargreaves@mcgill.ca
Esteban Suárez
3Instituto Biósfera & Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales. Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador.
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Klaus Mehltreter
4Red de Ecología Funcional, Instituto de Ecología, A. C., carretera antigua a Coatepec No. 351, El Haya, Xalapa 91070, Veracruz, México.
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Isla Myers-Smith
5School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FF, UK.
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  • ORCID record for Isla Myers-Smith
Sula E. Vanderplank
6Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Carr Tijuana-Ensenada 3918, Fraccionamiento Zona Playitas, 22860 Ensenada, México.
7Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 1700 University Drive, Fort Worth, TX 76107 USA.
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Heather L. Slinn
8Department of Biology, University of Nevada Reno, 1664 N Virginia street, Reno NV, 89557, USA.
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  • ORCID record for Heather L. Slinn
Yalma L. Vargas-Rodriguez
9National Council of Science and Technology & University of Guadalajara, Apdo. Postal 4-014, Col. La Loma, Guadalajara, 44421, Jalisco, México.
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Sybille Haeussler
10Buckley Valley Research Centre and University of Northern British Columbia, Smithers BC, Canada.
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Santiago David
2Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, British Columbia, Canada.
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Jenny Muñoz
2Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, British Columbia, Canada.
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R. Carlos Almazán-Núñez
11Laboratorio Integral de Fauna Silvestre, Facultad de Ciencias Químico Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero. Av. Lázaro Cárdenas s/n, Chilpancingo, Guerrero, 39000, México.
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Deirdre Loughnan
2Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, British Columbia, Canada.
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John W. Benning
12Department of Plant & Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, 1479 Gortner Ave, St. Paul MN, 55108, USA.
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David A. Moeller
12Department of Plant & Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, 1479 Gortner Ave, St. Paul MN, 55108, USA.
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Jedediah F. Brodie
13Division of Biological Sciences and Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula MT, 59812, USA.
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Haydn J.D. Thomas
5School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3FF, UK.
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P.A. Morales M
14Herbario Universidad de Antioquia. Universidad de Antioquia, Calle 67 Nº 53-108, Medellin, Colombia.
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Abstract

Species interactions have long been predicted to increase in intensity towards the tropics and low elevations, due to gradients in climate, productivity, or biodiversity. Despite their importance for understanding global ecological and evolutionary processes, plant-animal interaction gradients are particularly difficult to test systematically across large geographic gradients, and evidence from smaller, disparate studies is inconclusive. By systematically measuring post-dispersal seed predation using 6980 standardized seed depots along 18 mountains in the Pacific cordillera, we found that seed predation increases 18% from the Arctic to Equator and 16% from 4000 masl to sea level. Clines in total predation, likely driven by invertebrates, were consistent across tree-line ecotones and in continuous forest, and were better explained by climate seasonality than by productivity, biodiversity, or latitude. These results suggest that species interactions play predictably greater ecological and evolutionary roles in tropical, lowland, and other less seasonal ecosystems.

One Sentence Summary Post-dispersal seed predation increases from the Arctic to the Equator and from high elevations to sea level.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted April 20, 2018.
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Seed predation increases from the Arctic to the Equator and from high to low elevations
A.L. Hargreaves, Esteban Suárez, Klaus Mehltreter, Isla Myers-Smith, Sula E. Vanderplank, Heather L. Slinn, Yalma L. Vargas-Rodriguez, Sybille Haeussler, Santiago David, Jenny Muñoz, R. Carlos Almazán-Núñez, Deirdre Loughnan, John W. Benning, David A. Moeller, Jedediah F. Brodie, Haydn J.D. Thomas, P.A. Morales M
bioRxiv 304634; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/304634
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Seed predation increases from the Arctic to the Equator and from high to low elevations
A.L. Hargreaves, Esteban Suárez, Klaus Mehltreter, Isla Myers-Smith, Sula E. Vanderplank, Heather L. Slinn, Yalma L. Vargas-Rodriguez, Sybille Haeussler, Santiago David, Jenny Muñoz, R. Carlos Almazán-Núñez, Deirdre Loughnan, John W. Benning, David A. Moeller, Jedediah F. Brodie, Haydn J.D. Thomas, P.A. Morales M
bioRxiv 304634; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/304634

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