Rainforest transformation reallocates energy from green to brown food webs

Anton M. Potapov (), Jochen Drescher, Kevin Darras, Arne Wenzel, Noah Janotta, Rizky Nazarreta, Kasmiatun, Valentine Laurent, Amanda Mawan, Endah H. Utari, Melanie M. Pollierer, Katja Rembold, Rahayu Widyastuti, Damayanti Buchori, Purnama Hidayat, Edgar Turner, Ingo Grass, Catrin Westphal, Teja Tscharntke and Stefan Scheu
Additional contact information
Anton M. Potapov: University of Göttingen
Jochen Drescher: University of Göttingen
Kevin Darras: University of Göttingen
Arne Wenzel: University of Göttingen
Noah Janotta: University of Göttingen
Rizky Nazarreta: IPB University
Kasmiatun: IPB University
Valentine Laurent: University of Göttingen
Amanda Mawan: University of Göttingen
Endah H. Utari: IPB University
Melanie M. Pollierer: University of Göttingen
Katja Rembold: University of Bern
Rahayu Widyastuti: IPB University
Damayanti Buchori: IPB University
Purnama Hidayat: IPB University
Edgar Turner: University of Cambridge
Ingo Grass: University of Hohenheim
Catrin Westphal: University of Göttingen
Teja Tscharntke: University of Göttingen
Stefan Scheu: University of Göttingen

Nature, 2024, vol. 627, issue 8002, 116-122

Abstract: Abstract Terrestrial animal biodiversity is increasingly being lost because of land-use change1,2. However, functional and energetic consequences aboveground and belowground and across trophic levels in megadiverse tropical ecosystems remain largely unknown. To fill this gap, we assessed changes in energy fluxes across ‘green’ aboveground (canopy arthropods and birds) and ‘brown’ belowground (soil arthropods and earthworms) animal food webs in tropical rainforests and plantations in Sumatra, Indonesia. Our results showed that most of the energy in rainforests is channelled to the belowground animal food web. Oil palm and rubber plantations had similar or, in the case of rubber agroforest, higher total animal energy fluxes compared to rainforest but the key energetic nodes were distinctly different: in rainforest more than 90% of the total animal energy flux was channelled by arthropods in soil and canopy, whereas in plantations more than 50% of the energy was allocated to annelids (earthworms). Land-use change led to a consistent decline in multitrophic energy flux aboveground, whereas belowground food webs responded with reduced energy flux to higher trophic levels, down to −90%, and with shifts from slow (fungal) to fast (bacterial) energy channels and from faeces production towards consumption of soil organic matter. This coincides with previously reported soil carbon stock depletion3. Here we show that well-documented animal biodiversity declines with tropical land-use change4–6 are associated with vast energetic and functional restructuring in food webs across aboveground and belowground ecosystem compartments.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07083-y

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