Climate or diet? The importance of biotic interactions in determining species range size

• Published in: Global ecology and biogeography Vol. 32; no. 7; pp. 1178 - 1188
• Main Authors: Galiana, Núria, Lurgi, Miguel, Montoya, José M., Araújo, Miguel B., Galbraith, Eric D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.07.2023; Wiley
• Subjects: biotic interactions; climatic niche; Diet; dietary niche; Endangered & extinct species; Environmental changes; Environmental Sciences; Hutchinsonian niche; Niches; null models; Spatial distribution; Species diversity; Species extinction; species range size; Tolerances; Europe; climatic niche; dietary niche; null models; species range size climatic niche dietary niche Hutchinsonian niche biotic interactions null models; biotic interactions; Hutchinsonian niche; species range size
• ISSN: 1466-822X; 1466-8238; 1466-822X
• DOI: 10.1111/geb.13686

Aim Species geographical range sizes play a crucial role in determining species vulnerability to extinction. Although several mechanisms affect range sizes, the number of biotic interactions and species climatic tolerance are often thought to play discernible roles, defining two dimensions of the Hutchinsonian niche. Yet, the relative importance of the trophic and the climatic niche for determining species range sizes is largely unknown. Location Central and northern Europe. Time period Present. Major taxa studied Gall‐inducing sawflies and their parasitoids. Methods We use data documenting the spatial distributions and biotic interactions of 96 herbivore species, and their 125 parasitoids, across Europe and analyse the relationship between species range size and the climatic and trophic dimensions of the niche. We then compare the observed relationships with null expectations based on species occupancy to understand whether the relationships observed are an inevitable consequence of species range size or if they contain information about the importance of each dimension of the niche on species range size. Results We find that both niche dimensions are positively correlated with species range size, with larger ranges being associated with wider climatic tolerances and larger numbers of interactions. However, diet breadth appears to more strongly limit species range size. Species with larger ranges have more interactions locally and they are also able to interact with a larger diversity of species across sites (i.e. higher β‐diversity), resulting in a larger number of interactions at continental scales. Main conclusions We show for the first time how different aspects of species diet niches are related to their range size. Our study offers new insight into the importance of biotic interactions in determining species spatial distributions, which is critical for improving understanding and predictions of species vulnerability to extinction under the current rates of global environmental change.