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Abstract Diet composition is among the most important yet least understood dimensions of animal ecology. Inspired by the study of species abundance distributions (SADs), we tested for generalities in the structure of vertebrate diets by characterising them as dietary abundance distributions (DADs). We compiled data on 1167 population‐level diets, representing >500 species from six vertebrate classes, spanning all continents and oceans. DADs near‐universally (92.5%) followed a hollow‐curve shape, with scant support for other plausible rank‐abundance‐distribution shapes. This strong generality is inherently related to, yet incompletely explained by, the SADs of available food taxa. By quantifying dietary generalisation as the half‐saturation point of the cumulative distribution of dietary abundance (sp50, minimum number of foods required to account for 50% of diet), we found that vertebrate populations are surprisingly specialised: in most populations, fewer than three foods accounted for at least half the diet. Variation insp50was strongly associated with consumer type, with carnivores being more specialised than herbivores or omnivores. Other methodological (sampling method and effort, taxonomic resolution), biological (body mass, frugivory) and biogeographic (latitude) factors influencedsp50to varying degrees. Future challenges include identifying the mechanisms underpinning the hollow‐curve DAD, its generality beyond vertebrates, and the biological determinants of dietary generalisation.
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Empirical abundance distributions are more uneven than expected given their statistical baseline
Abstract Exploring and accounting for the emergent properties of ecosystems as complex systems is a promising horizon in the search for general processes to explain common ecological patterns. For example the ubiquitous hollow‐curve form of the species abundance distribution is frequently assumed to reflect ecological processes structuring communities, but can also emerge as a statistical phenomenon from the mathematical definition of an abundance distribution. Although the hollow curve may be a statistical artefact, ecological processes may induce subtle deviations between empirical species abundance distributions and their statistically most probable forms. These deviations may reflect biological processes operating on top of mathematical constraints and provide new avenues for advancing ecological theory. Examining ~22,000 communities, we found that empirical SADs are highly uneven and dominated by rare species compared to their statistical baselines. Efforts to detect deviations may be less informative in small communities—those with few species or individuals—because these communities have poorly resolved statistical baselines. The uneven nature of many empirical SADs demonstrates a path forward for leveraging complexity to understand ecological processes governing the distribution of abundance, while the issues posed by small communities illustrate the limitations of using this approach to study ecological patterns in small samples.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1929730
- PAR ID:
- 10450126
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Ecology Letters
- Volume:
- 24
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 1461-023X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 2025-2039
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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