Opposite latitudinal patterns for bird and arthropod predation revealed in the experiments with differently colored artificial prey

The strength of biotic interactions is generally thought to increase towards the equator, but support for this hypothesis is contradictory. We explored whether predator attacks on artificial prey of eight different colours vary among climates and whether this variation affects the detection of latitudinal patterns in predation. The data set provides number of damage marks on each of 1320 plasticine caterpillars of eight different colours, which were attached to branches of woody plants and exposed from 10 to 118 days in 11 localities across the globe. During each record, all marks found on model caterpillars were attributed to a certain group of predators (birds, arthropods, mammals and other predators), and marks of each type were counted. The models that had damage marks were remoulded or replaced if the damage was severe. These data contribute to our understanding of macroecological patterns in biotic interactions.