A continued devaluation of natural history has added to the failure of ecologists to understand patterns and processes of diversity as well as the consequences of the rapid extinction rates induced by global change. We have used extensive natural history data, metabolomics, genomics, and network approaches to quantify diversity of chemically mediated trophic interactions and to address general questions about large spatial and temporal patterns of diversity.
Results/Conclusions
For multiple temperate and tropical sites, as well as for simulated communities, we found that trophic interaction diversity measured at scales that are utilized for most food webs are misleading and not relevant to local community processes. We also uncovered interesting mechanisms by which factors such as phytochemistry and natural enemies affect interaction and species diversity at different scales.