Data from: Rainforest conversion to plantations fundamentally alters energy fluxes and functions in canopy arthropod food webs

Tropical rainforests around the world are rapidly being converted into
cash-crop agricultural systems. The associated massive losses of plant and
animal species lead to changes in arthropod food webs and the energy
fluxes therein. These changes are poorly understood, in particular in the
extremely biodiverse canopies of tropical ecosystems. Using canopy fogging
followed by stable isotope and energy flux analyses, we show that land-use
conversion from rainforest to rubber and oil palm plantations not only
causes a drastic reduction in energy fluxes of up to 75% but also shifts
fluxes among trophic groups. While rainforests featured high levels of
both herbivory and algae-microbiology, and a balanced ratio of herbivory
to predation, relative fluxes were shifted towards predation in rubber and
towards herbivory in oil palm plantations, indicating profound shifts in
ecosystem functioning. Our results highlight that the ongoing loss of
animal biodiversity and biomass in tropical canopies degrades
animal-driven functions and restructures canopy food webs.