title: Robustness of metacommunities with omnivory to habitat destruction: disentangling patch fragmentation from patch loss.
abstract: Habitat destruction, characterized by patch loss and fragmentation, is a major driving force of species extinction, and understanding its mechanisms has become a central issue in biodiversity conservation. Numerous studies have explored the effect of patch loss on food web dynamics, but ignored the critical role of patch fragmentation. Here we develop an extended patch-dynamic model for a tri-trophic omnivory system with trophic-dependent dispersal in fragmented landscapes. We found that species display different vulnerabilities to both patch loss and fragmentation, depending on their dispersal range and trophic position. The resulting trophic structure varies depending on the degree of habitat loss and fragmentation, due to a tradeoff between bottom-up control on omnivores (dominated by patch loss) and dispersal limitation on intermediate consumers (dominated by patch fragmentation). Overall, we find that omnivory increases system robustness to habitat destruction relative to a simple food chain.
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education's Key Laboratory of Poyang Lake Wetland and Watershed Research, Jiangxi Normal University, Ziyang Road 99, Nanchang, 330022, China.
authors.forename: Jinbao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, United Kingdom.|Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), University of Oldenburg, Carl-von-Ossietzky-Strasse 9-11, Oldenburg, D-26111, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bearup
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education's Key Laboratory of Poyang Lake Wetland and Watershed Research, Jiangxi Normal University, Ziyang Road 99, Nanchang, 330022, China.
authors.forename: Yeqiao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Centre of Excellence Plant and Vegetation Ecology, University of Antwerp (Campus Drie Eiken), Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, 2610, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nijs
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Ghent University, K. L. Ledeganckstraat 35, Ghent, B-9000, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dries
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bonte
authors.affiliation: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.
authors.forename: Yuanheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.|Institute of Ecology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger Strasse 159, Jena, 07743, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Brose
authors.affiliation: German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.
authors.forename: Shaopeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM), University of Oldenburg, Carl-von-Ossietzky-Strasse 9-11, Oldenburg, D-26111, Germany.
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Blasius
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D020387:Food Chain
keywords: bottom-up control; food chain; food web robustness; landscape fragmentation; omnivory; patch connectivity; patch loss; patch-dynamic model; species dispersal; top-down control