Data from: Fire, grazing, and climate shape plant-grasshopper interactions in a tallgrass prairie

1. Species interactions are integral to ecological community function and
the structure of species interactions has repercussions for the
consequences of species extinctions. Few studies have examined the role of
environmental factors in controlling species interaction networks across
time. 2. We examined variation in plant-grasshopper network structural
properties in response to three major grassland drivers: periodic fire,
ungulate grazing and climate. 3. We sequenced a plant barcoding gene from
extracted grasshopper gut contents to characterize diets of 26 grasshopper
species. Resulting grasshopper species’ diets were combined with long-term
plant and grasshopper surveys to assemble plant-grasshopper networks
across 13-19 years for 6 watersheds subjected to varying fire and grazing
treatments. 4. Network modularity, generality, and predicted grasshopper
community robustness to plant species loss all increased in grazed
watersheds. Temperature decreased predicted grasshopper community
robustness to plant species loss. 5. Grasshopper communities were found to
be vulnerable to climatic warming due to host plant loss. However,
intermediate disturbance from ungulate grazers may maintain grasshopper
diversity and buffer community robustness to species loss. Our results
suggest that climate and disturbance shape the structure of ecological
interaction networks and thus have many indirect effects on species
persistence though direct effects on interaction partners.