The Bug-Network (BugNet): A Global Experimental Network Testing the Effects of Invertebrate Herbivores and Fungal Pathogens on Plant Communities and Ecosystem Function in Open Ecosystems
Plants are consumed by a variety of organisms, including herbivores and pathogens, which significantly impact plant biomass, diversity, community composition, and ecosystem functioning. While the impacts of vertebrate herbivores are well established, the effects of consumer groups such as insect her...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo |
| Language: | Inglés |
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Wiley
2026
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/24897 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.72111 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.72111 |
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| author | Kempel, Anne Adamidis, George C. Anadón, José D. Atkinson, Joe Auge, Harald Avtzis, Dimitrios Bachelot, Benedicte Bashirzadeh, Maral Bota, Julien L. Classen, Aimee Graff, Barbara Pamela Oyarzabal, Mariano Allan, Eric |
| author_browse | Adamidis, George C. Allan, Eric Anadón, José D. Atkinson, Joe Auge, Harald Avtzis, Dimitrios Bachelot, Benedicte Bashirzadeh, Maral Bota, Julien L. Classen, Aimee Graff, Barbara Pamela Kempel, Anne Oyarzabal, Mariano |
| author_facet | Kempel, Anne Adamidis, George C. Anadón, José D. Atkinson, Joe Auge, Harald Avtzis, Dimitrios Bachelot, Benedicte Bashirzadeh, Maral Bota, Julien L. Classen, Aimee Graff, Barbara Pamela Oyarzabal, Mariano Allan, Eric |
| author_sort | Kempel, Anne |
| collection | INTA Digital |
| description | Plants are consumed by a variety of organisms, including herbivores and pathogens, which significantly impact plant biomass, diversity, community composition, and ecosystem functioning. While the impacts of vertebrate herbivores are well established, the effects of consumer groups such as insect herbivores, mollusks, and fungal pathogens on plant communities are less clear and remain understudied in many systems. Existing evidence of how they affect plant biomass, diversity, and community composition is mixed, and most studies have focused on individual consumer groups in isolation. However, different consumer groups interact with each other, directly or indirectly, in ways that alter their impacts on plants, and the consequences of these interactions for plant community structure and ecosystem function remain understudied. Further, consumer impacts vary across environmental gradients and likely depend on abiotic conditions such as climate, soil type, or elevation, and biotic conditions such as plant productivity, diversity, or community composition. Existing studies testing the impacts of invertebrate herbivores and fungal pathogens on plant communities differ substantially in methodology, making generalities across large scales difficult. This calls for experimental approaches that implement standardized protocols across many sites. Here, we introduce and report on the methodology of a novel global research network, The Bug-Network (BugNet), that implements standardized consumer-reduction experiments across 5 continents and 18 countries in diverse, herbaceous- or shrub-dominated ecosystems to investigate: (1) the influence of fungal pathogens, insect herbivores, and mollusks on plant diversity and ecosystem functioning, (2) interactions among these consumer groups, and (3) the abiotic and biotic drivers of context-dependent consumer impacts. BugNet aims to advance a predictive understanding of plant-consumer interactions in order to test fundamental ecological hypotheses and improve predictions of global change impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. |
| format | info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo |
| id | INTA24897 |
| institution | Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA -Argentina) |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| publisherStr | Wiley |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | INTA248972026-01-06T13:47:09Z The Bug-Network (BugNet): A Global Experimental Network Testing the Effects of Invertebrate Herbivores and Fungal Pathogens on Plant Communities and Ecosystem Function in Open Ecosystems Kempel, Anne Adamidis, George C. Anadón, José D. Atkinson, Joe Auge, Harald Avtzis, Dimitrios Bachelot, Benedicte Bashirzadeh, Maral Bota, Julien L. Classen, Aimee Graff, Barbara Pamela Oyarzabal, Mariano Allan, Eric Ecosistema Fungicidas Insecticidas Biodiversidad Herbívoros Hongos Patógenos Ecosystems Fungicides Insecticides Biodiversity Herbivores Pathogenic Fungi Plants are consumed by a variety of organisms, including herbivores and pathogens, which significantly impact plant biomass, diversity, community composition, and ecosystem functioning. While the impacts of vertebrate herbivores are well established, the effects of consumer groups such as insect herbivores, mollusks, and fungal pathogens on plant communities are less clear and remain understudied in many systems. Existing evidence of how they affect plant biomass, diversity, and community composition is mixed, and most studies have focused on individual consumer groups in isolation. However, different consumer groups interact with each other, directly or indirectly, in ways that alter their impacts on plants, and the consequences of these interactions for plant community structure and ecosystem function remain understudied. Further, consumer impacts vary across environmental gradients and likely depend on abiotic conditions such as climate, soil type, or elevation, and biotic conditions such as plant productivity, diversity, or community composition. Existing studies testing the impacts of invertebrate herbivores and fungal pathogens on plant communities differ substantially in methodology, making generalities across large scales difficult. This calls for experimental approaches that implement standardized protocols across many sites. Here, we introduce and report on the methodology of a novel global research network, The Bug-Network (BugNet), that implements standardized consumer-reduction experiments across 5 continents and 18 countries in diverse, herbaceous- or shrub-dominated ecosystems to investigate: (1) the influence of fungal pathogens, insect herbivores, and mollusks on plant diversity and ecosystem functioning, (2) interactions among these consumer groups, and (3) the abiotic and biotic drivers of context-dependent consumer impacts. BugNet aims to advance a predictive understanding of plant-consumer interactions in order to test fundamental ecological hypotheses and improve predictions of global change impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. EEA Cesáreo Naredo Fil: Kempel, Anne. WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF; Suiza Fil: Kempel, Anne. Climate Change, Extremes and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Centre CERC; Suiza Fil: Adamidis, George C. University of Patras. Department of Biology; Grecia Fil: Anadón, José D. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (IPE-CSIC); España Fil: Atkinson, Joe. University of Adelaide. Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology. School of Biological Sciences; Australia Fil: Auge, Harald. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research; Alemania Fil: Auge, Harald. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig; Alemania Fil: Avtzis, Dimitrios. Hellenic Agricultural Organization Demeter. Forest Research Institute; Grecia Fil: Bachelot, Benedicte. Oklahoma State University. Department of Biology; Estados Unidos Fil: Bashirzadeh, Maral. University of Mazandaran. Faculty of Science. Department of Biology; Irán Fil: Bota, Julien L. WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF; Suiza Fil: Bota, Julien L. Climate Change, Extremes and Natural Hazards in Alpine Regions Research Centre CERC; Suiza Fil: Classen, Aimee. University of Michigan. Biological Station; Estados Unidos Fil: Classen, Aimee. University of Michigan. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Estados Unidos Fil: Graff, Barbara Pamela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Cesáreo Naredo. Agencia de Extensión Rural Coronel Suárez; Argentina Fil: Graff, Barbara Pamela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina Fil: Graff, Barbara Pamela. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina Fil: Oyarzabal, Mariano. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Cesáreo Naredo. Agencia de Extensión Rural Coronel Suárez; Argentina Fil: Oyarzabal, Mariano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina Fil: Oyarzabal, Mariano. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina Fil: Oyarzabal, Mariano. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Agronomía; Argentina Fil: Allan, Eric. University of Bern. Institute of Plant Sciences and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research; Suiza Fil: Allan, Eric. University of Bern. Centre for Development and Environment; Suiza 2026-01-06T13:42:32Z 2026-01-06T13:42:32Z 2025-10 info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/24897 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.72111 2045-7758 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.72111 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) application/pdf Wiley Ecology and Evolution 15 (10) : e72111. (October 2025) |
| spellingShingle | Ecosistema Fungicidas Insecticidas Biodiversidad Herbívoros Hongos Patógenos Ecosystems Fungicides Insecticides Biodiversity Herbivores Pathogenic Fungi Kempel, Anne Adamidis, George C. Anadón, José D. Atkinson, Joe Auge, Harald Avtzis, Dimitrios Bachelot, Benedicte Bashirzadeh, Maral Bota, Julien L. Classen, Aimee Graff, Barbara Pamela Oyarzabal, Mariano Allan, Eric The Bug-Network (BugNet): A Global Experimental Network Testing the Effects of Invertebrate Herbivores and Fungal Pathogens on Plant Communities and Ecosystem Function in Open Ecosystems |
| title | The Bug-Network (BugNet): A Global Experimental Network Testing the Effects of Invertebrate Herbivores and Fungal Pathogens on Plant Communities and Ecosystem Function in Open Ecosystems |
| title_full | The Bug-Network (BugNet): A Global Experimental Network Testing the Effects of Invertebrate Herbivores and Fungal Pathogens on Plant Communities and Ecosystem Function in Open Ecosystems |
| title_fullStr | The Bug-Network (BugNet): A Global Experimental Network Testing the Effects of Invertebrate Herbivores and Fungal Pathogens on Plant Communities and Ecosystem Function in Open Ecosystems |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Bug-Network (BugNet): A Global Experimental Network Testing the Effects of Invertebrate Herbivores and Fungal Pathogens on Plant Communities and Ecosystem Function in Open Ecosystems |
| title_short | The Bug-Network (BugNet): A Global Experimental Network Testing the Effects of Invertebrate Herbivores and Fungal Pathogens on Plant Communities and Ecosystem Function in Open Ecosystems |
| title_sort | bug network bugnet a global experimental network testing the effects of invertebrate herbivores and fungal pathogens on plant communities and ecosystem function in open ecosystems |
| topic | Ecosistema Fungicidas Insecticidas Biodiversidad Herbívoros Hongos Patógenos Ecosystems Fungicides Insecticides Biodiversity Herbivores Pathogenic Fungi |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/24897 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.72111 https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.72111 |
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