Project Detail

Bug–Network (BugNet)

Name:	Bug–Network (BugNet)
Researchers:	Dostál Petr (national coordinator)
Provider:
Web:	https://www.bug-net.org/
Realization from:	2021
Summary:	A lot of theory predicts that consumer impact varies across environmental gradients. Impact is likely to depend on abiotic conditions at large spatial scales such as climate (latitude, altitude) and plant productivity, but also on abiotic and biotic drivers operating at smaller spatial scales, such as plant diversity and soil fertility (bottom-up) and predator abundance (top-down). Our understanding of how consumer communities and their impact varies across environmental gradients is surprisingly limited. Existing studies differ substantially in methodology, making generalities across large scales difficult, which calls for comparative approaches that implement standardised protocols across sites. This is particularly important if we are to understand how global change drivers, such as climate and land use change, will alter consumer communities and their functioning.