Discussion
This study is unique in that it systematically assessed a latitudinal gradient in community-wide herbivory and further explored the mechanistic underpinnings of this gradient. Our assessment of community-wide herbivory provides strong evidence for the latitudinal herbivory hypothesis. Moreover, our results suggest that the observed latitudinal variation in community-wide herbivory was primarily driven by decreasing intraspecific values of leaf herbivory along the latitudinal gradient (i.e. , intraspecific herbivory variability), rather than by shifts in plant community composition (i.e. , species’ turnover effects). Meanwhile, we found that climate also played a major role in driving intraspecific herbivory variability, ultimately affecting latitudinal variation in community-wide herbivory. Together, these findings highlight the importance of community-wide herbivory in macroecological research on plant-herbivore interactions.