About the Authors

Carlos J. Melián

melian@nceas.ucsb.edu

Affiliations National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America, Center for Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Kastanienbaum, Switzerland

David Alonso

Affiliation Community and Conservation Ecology Group, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

Diego P. Vázquez

Affiliations Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Mendoza, Argentina, Instituto de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Centro Universitario, Mendoza, Argentina

James Regetz

Affiliation National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America

Stefano Allesina

Affiliation Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: DPV. Analyzed the data: CJM SA. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: CJM DA JR SA. Wrote the paper: CJM DA DPV JR SA.