LTER: Consumer Absence Generates Ecological Dissimilarity (CAGED): A cross-ecosystem synthesis exploring the consequences of consumer loss on community variability

Ecosystems around the world are facing dramatic consumer loss, with cascading consequences for how the rest of the community looks and functions. A few recent case studies suggest that consumer loss leads to increased community variability across space, however it remains unknown how generalizable this pattern is across ecosystems, regions and taxa. Here, we will capitalize on existing data from consumer-exclusion experiments that are common in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems to evaluate how consumer loss influences community variability across space (i.e., dissimilarity in community composition). We will integrate data from studies at LTERs, the Grazing Exclosure Database, and by searching the literature for data deficient ecosystems (e.g., aquatic, forests). Understanding how consumer loss affects community variability is integral to conservation and management and predicting how an ecosystem will provide services and respond to global change. Our proposal addresses two gaps in syntheses identified within the LTER 40 Year Decadal Report: 1) the lack of marine studies included in LTER syntheses, and 2) the role of animals in LTER community and ecosystem dynamics. With support from LNO/NCEAS, we will create a diverse community of researchers that further cross-talk between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems within the LTER network.