Thermal mismatches in biological rates determine trophic control and biomass distribution under warming

Temperature has numerous effects on the structure and dynamics of ecological communities. Yet, there is no general trend or consensus on the magnitude and directions of these effects. To fill this gap, we propose a mechanistic framework based on key biological rates that predicts how temperature influences biomass distribution and trophic control in food webs. We show that these predictions arise from thermal mismatches between biological rates and across trophic levels. We couple our theory with experimental data for a wide range of species and find that warming should lead to top‐heavier terrestrial food chains and stronger top‐down control in aquatic environments. We then derive predictions for the effects of temperature on herbivory and validate them with data on stream grazers. Our study provides a mechanistic explanation of thermal effects on consumer–resource systems which is crucial to better understand the biogeography and the consequences of global warming on trophic dynamics. Temperature has numerous effects on the structure and dynamics of food webs. To predict these effects, we propose a mechanistic framework based on key biological rates. We show how thermal mismatches between biological rates and across trophic levels govern biomass distribution and trophic control in consumer‐resource systems. Using experimental data for a wide range of species, we demonstrate that warming should lead to top‐heavier terrestrial food chains and stronger top‐down control in aquatic environments. Our study provides a mechanistic explanation of thermal effects on communities which is crucial to better understand the consequences of global warming.