Mapping the imprint of biotic interactions on β‐diversity.

Investigating how trophic interactions influence the β‐diversity of meta‐communities is of paramount importance to understanding the processes shaping biodiversity distribution. Here, we apply a statistical method for inferring the strength of spatial dependencies between pairs of species groups. Using simulated community data generated from a multi‐trophic model, we showed that this method can approximate biotic interactions in multi‐trophic communities based on β‐diversity patterns across groups. When applied to soil multi‐trophic communities along an elevational gradient in the French Alps, we found that fungi make a major contribution to the structuring of β‐diversity across trophic groups. We also demonstrated that there were strong spatial dependencies between groups known to interact specifically (e.g. plant‐symbiotic fungi, bacteria‐nematodes) and that the influence of environment was less important than previously reported in the literature. Our method paves the way for a better understanding and mapping of multi‐trophic communities through space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]