About the Authors

Carlos J. Melián

carlos.melian@eawag.ch

Affiliations National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, 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

Stefano Allesina

Affiliations National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America, Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America

Richard S. Condit

Affiliation Center for Tropical Forest Science, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama

Rampal S. Etienne

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

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

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