Project Details
Projekt
Linking cavity-nesting bee and wasp food webs to other trophic interactions
Subject Area
Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions
Term
since 2022
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 452861007
Wider research context: Although, the importance of plant diversity for ecosystem functions within and across trophic levels has been shown across ecosystems, the research is primarily based on correlations and not on direct feeding links. Hypotheses: Here we propose to study quantitative interaction networks of cavity-nesting bees and wasps including their food resources and natural enemies along the tree diversity gradient of BEF-China. Our central hypotheses are: (1) Tree diversity changes cavity-nesting communities, but only starting at the point after canopy closure. (2) Tree functional diversity explains higher complementarity of resources than taxonomic and phylogenetic tree diversity. (3) Traditional DNA barcoding leads to high taxonomic resolution and is needed for reliable metabarcoding approach. (4) Tree diversity explains the degree of specialisation of bees and wasps but this pattern dampens with trophic-distance to the tree food resources. (5) Wood nests closer to the ground and nests allowing access for ants have low bee and wasp occupancy with little parasitism rates.Methods: We will install reed nests, for the first time in all 300 core plots, to monthly evaluate trap-nesting bees, wasp-parasitoid interactions (WP1). At the 64 VIP plots, we will use layer nests for getting access to freshly established brood cells to collect prey objects and pollen for barcoding and metabarcoding with the ultimate goal to establish quantitative direct feeding links across multiple trophic levels (WP2). We will use wood nests with drilled holes at VIP plots to emulate natural occurring nests in dead wood at different locations (forest ground, trunk, canopy) to establish a direct link to decomposer interactions (WP3 with SP1).Innovation: We will build up a unique long-term monitoring of trophic networks with direct feeding observations (up to now 10 years). We plan to build up essential information on bioinformatics to build up a high-resolution metabarcoding for cavity-nesting Hymenoptera food webs as the basis to go beyond correlative trophic network approaches. Understanding the interactions between cavity-nesting Hymenoptera and other dead wood users is up to now neglected but crucial to better link above-and belowground biodiversity.Primary researchers involved: This project will be conducted by Alexandra Klein (PI), Felix Fornoff, Manuela Sann (Co-PIs) (Uni Freiburg) and in collaboration with our Chinese partners Michael Orr and Arong Luo (Chinese Academy of Sciences). Christina Grozinger (Penn State University) and Mercator fellow of the Research Unit will also collaborate in this subproject.
DFG Programme
Research Units
International Connection
China
Cooperation Partners
Dr. Arong Luo; Dr. Michael Orr, Ph.D.
