Evidence is accumulating of the disruptive effects of climate change on species interactions. However, little is known about how changes in climate patterns, such as temporal shifts in rainfall events, will affect multitrophic interactions. Here, we investigated the effects of changes in rainfall patterns on the interactions between root herbivores, a plant, and its associated aboveground insects in a semiarid region by experimentally manipulating in the field rainfall intensity and frequency. We found that a shift in rainfall severely constrained biomass acquisition and flowering of the plant Moricandia moricandioides, resulting in fitness reduction. Importantly, enhanced rainfall affected the interactions between below‐ and some aboveground herbivores, disrupting the positive effects of root herbivores on chewing insects. The shifts in precipitation had also plant‐mediated consequences for planthoppers, the dominant sapsuckers in our study system. A combination of mechanisms involving biomass acquisition and plant defenses seemed to be responsible for the different responses of insects and their interactions with the plant. This study provides evidence that altered rainfall patterns due to climate change affect not only trophic groups differentially but also their interactions.

中文翻译：

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降雨模式的改变降低了植物的适应性并破坏了地下和地下昆虫食草动物之间的相互作用

越来越多的证据表明，气候变化对物种相互作用具有破坏性作用。然而，人们对气候模式的变化（如降雨事件的时间变化）如何影响多营养相互作用的了解很少。在这里，我们通过实验控制田间降雨强度和频率，研究了降雨模式变化对半干旱地区根草食动物，植物及其相关地上昆虫之间相互作用的影响。我们发现降雨的变化严重限制了植物Moricandia moricandioides的生物量获取和开花，导致健身降低。重要的是，降雨增加影响地下和一些地面食草动物之间的相互作用，破坏了根食草动物对咀嚼昆虫的积极影响。降雨的变化对植物飞虱也有植物介导的影响，而飞虱是我们研究系统中的主要啄木鸟。涉及生物量获取和植物防御的多种机制似乎是造成昆虫不同反应及其与植物相互作用的原因。这项研究提供的证据表明，由于气候变化而导致的降雨模式改变不仅对营养族群产生了不同的影响，而且还影响了它们之间的相互作用。