Data for: Ambient and substrate energy influence decomposer diversity differentially across trophic levels

The species-energy hypothesis predicts increasing biodiversity with
increasing energy in ecosystems. Proxies for energy availability are often
grouped into ambient energy (i.e., solar radiation) and substrate energy
(i.e., non-structural carbohydrates or nutritional content). The relative
importance of substrate energy is thought to decrease with increasing
trophic level from primary consumers to predators, with reciprocal effects
of ambient energy. Yet, empirical tests are lacking. We compiled data on
332,557 deadwood-inhabiting beetles of 901 species reared from wood of 49
tree species across Europe. Using host-phylogeny-controlled models, we
show that the relative importance of substrate energy versus ambient
energy decreases with increasing trophic levels: the diversity of
zoophagous and mycetophagous beetles was determined by ambient energy,
while non-structural carbohydrate content in woody tissues determined that
of xylophagous beetles. Our study thus overall supports the species-energy
hypothesis and specifies that the relative importance of ambient
temperature increases with increasing trophic level with opposite effects
for substrate energy.