Latitudinal effect on the structure of snake–prey interaction networks is mediated by snake species richness

Despite the growing number of studies on trophic networks in recent decades, there are still important gaps in our understanding of how these networks are structured across broad environmental gradients. These gaps are even greater in some groups of terrestrial vertebrates, such as snakes, requiring a cohesive synthesis of their broader trophic interaction patterns. Snakes are widely distributed and inhabit diverse environments, being important predators of terrestrial, aquatic, fossorial, and even marine fauna. Their prey varies widely taxonomically and in body size, and their diets range from highly specialized to highly generalized. Here, we evaluate how latitude affects the structure of 46 broadly distributed snake–prey networks, through factors acting at the local community scale (snake species richness, taxonomic distinctness, and body mass) using path analysis. We expected that the greater snake richness in the tropics would favor specialization, resulting in less connected, more specialized, more nested, and more modular networks compared to those in temperate regions. We also investigated the differential importance of prey groups in the structure of snake communities. Our results showed that, generally, snake–prey networks were moderately connected, nested, and non‐modular. Snake richness and body mass variance were negatively associated with latitude, and richness was also negatively related to connectance and specialization, but positively related to nestedness. Networks in tropical regions comprised greater richness and body size variation among the snakes but also exhibited proportionally fewer interactions per species (i.e. lower connectance) and greater niche overlap among specialist and generalist snakes. Anurans, lizards, songbirds, and small mammals were the most consumed prey in all networks. Our results indicate that despite the great variation in snake richness and resource use, network patterns were generally consistent, suggesting that latitude exerted an indirect effect on the structure of snake–prey networks, which could represent stable community components worldwide.