Affect Food Web Dynamics Research Articles

Putting the Asymmetric Response Concept to the test: Modeling multiple stressor exposure and release in a stream food web

Communities in stream ecosystems often respond asymmetrically to increase and release of stressors, as indicated by slow and incomplete recovery. The Asymmetric Response Concept (ARC) posits that this is due to a shift in the relative importance of three mechanisms: tolerance, dispersal, and biotic interactions. In complex natural communities, these mechanisms may produce alternative outcomes through poorly understood indirect effects. To understand how the three mechanisms respond to different temporal stressor scenarios, we studied multiple scenarios using a stream food web model. We asked the following questions: Do groups of species decline as expected on the basis of individual tolerance rankings derived from laboratory experiments when they are embedded in a complex dynamic food web? Does the response of ecosystem function match that of communities? To address these questions, we aggregated data on individual tolerances at the level of functional groups and studied how single and multiple stressors affect food web dynamics and nutrient cycling. Multiple stressor scenarios involved different intensities of salt and temperature increase. Functional groups exhibited a different relative tolerance ranking between the laboratory and dynamic food web contexts. Salt as a single stressor had only minor and transient effects at low level but led to the loss of one or more functional groups at high level. In contrast, high temperature, alone or in combination with salt, caused the loss of functional groups at all tested levels. Patterns often differed between the response of communities and ecosystem function. We discuss our findings with respect to the ARC.

Disturbance alters phytoplankton functional traits and consequently drives changes in zooplankton life-history traits and lipid composition

In the light of the current biodiversity crisis that affects in particular freshwater ecosystems, it is crucial to understand the effects of functional diversity loss on phytoplankton-zooplankton interactions in freshwater food webs. Here, we simulated the loss of phytoplankton trait diversity by applying different intensities of mechanical disturbance to a natural phytoplankton community in a laboratory experiment. Different disturbance regimes clearly affected the trait distribution and functional diversity of these phytoplankton communities. In the experiment’s second phase, these altered communities were provided as a food source to the zooplankton grazers Daphnia longispina and Eudiaptomus graciloides and their life-history traits and lipid compositions were investigated. Both zooplankton fitness and reproductive success were affected differently, depending on the grazers’ feeding modes. Phytoplankton fatty acid composition was generally reflected in the consumers’ tissue. Nevertheless, some selective PUFAs accumulation occurred and mismatches in some fatty acids suggested a possible enzymatic modification of dietary fatty acids adopted to face biochemical deficiencies of the diets. Overall, this study highlights how a loss of specific traits in resource communities could impact consumer communities, and shows how these altered community traits may affect food web dynamics.

Sulfur stable isotopes as a tracer of insect migration and consumption by fish predators

Resource flows between freshwater ecosystems can greatly affect foodweb dynamics. The seasonal movement of a family of aquatic insects, water boatmen, or corixids (Hemiptera: Corixidae) represents an important transfer of resources between wetland and river ecosystems. Corixids migrate en masse from wetlands in the North American prairies to rivers every autumn to overwinter. In the North and South Saskatchewan rivers, Saskatchewan, Canada, several fish species prey upon these migratory corixids. Here, we examined the utility of the stable isotope ratio of sulfur, δ34S, in tracing the migration of corixids between wetlands and the North and South Saskatchewan rivers. We also assessed the extent to which riverine fish use migratory corixids as a dietary subsidy. We found that both corixids and other wetland invertebrates exhibited a mean δ34S value of −10.5 ± 5.8‰, lower than riverine invertebrates at −4.1 ± 4.1‰. Specifically, riverine invertebrates from the South Saskatchewan River were more depleted in 34S than those from the North Saskatchewan River, with means of −5.1 ± 4.1‰ and −1.4 ± 2.8‰, respectively. In summer, corixid-feeing and noncorixid-feeding fish exhibited similar δ34S values in liver tissue, whereas in spring and autumn, corixid feeders exhibited more negative δ34S values. Isotope mixing models indicated that corixid-feeding species may have derived 34 to 65% of liver tissue from wetland sources in spring, 15 to 34% in summer, and 41 to 78% in autumn, whereas contributions to noncorixid-feeding species ranged from 4 to 17% across all seasons. We conclude that δ34S has the potential to trace insect movement and consumer use between isotopically distinct freshwater systems.

Testing umbrella species and food-web properties of large carnivores in the Rocky Mountains

Despite criticisms, the umbrella species concept remains a fundamental conservation tool for protecting biodiversity in the face of global change, yet it is rarely tested. Food web theory provides a tool to test both umbrella-species' suitability and their ecological function, which we investigate in a large-mammal food web. Using data from 698 camera trap locations in the Canadian Rockies, we develop hierarchical occupancy models to predict the co-occurrence of 16 large mammal species. We draw upon previous diet studies in the Canadian Rockies to describe the meta food-web (meta-web) for these species. Next, we filtered the meta-web using predicted occupancy to estimate realized food webs at each camera location. We tested the umbrella species concept using predicted occupancy across all 698 camera sites. We then tested for carnivore effects using realized food webs on 5 food-web properties: species richness, links, connectance, nestedness and modularity using generalized linear models while accounting for landscape covariates known to affect food web dynamics. Our multispecies occupancy models reflected factors previously demonstrated to affect large mammal occurrence. Our results also demonstrated that grizzly bear (Ursus horribilis), a generalist carnivore, was the best umbrella carivore species, and explained species richness the best. When considering food web properties, however, wolves (Canis lupus) and cougars (Felis concolor) served as better umbrellas that also captured food web properties such as connectance, links and nestedness that better reflect ecological interactions. Our results support the role of large carnivores as umbrella and ecologically interactive species in conservation planning.

Rapid evolution of diet choice in an introduced population of Trinidadian guppies.

Eco-evolutionary theory has brought an interest in the rapid evolution of functional traits. Among them, diet is an important determinant of ecosystem structure, affecting food web dynamics and nutrient cycling. However, it is largely unknown whether diet, or diet preference, has a hereditary basis and can evolve on contemporary timescales. Here, we study the diet preferences of Trinidadian guppies Poecilia reticulata collected from directly below an introduction site of fish transplanted from a high-predation environment into a low predation site where their densities and competition increased. Behavioural assays on F2 common garden descendants of the ancestral and derived populations showed that diet preference has rapidly evolved in the introduced population in only 12 years (approx. 36 generations). Specifically, we show that the preference for high-quality food generally found in high-predation guppies is lost in the newly derived low-predation population, who show an inertia toward the first encountered food. This result is predicted by theory stating that organisms should evolve less selective diets under higher competition. Demonstrating that diet preference can show rapid and adaptive evolution is important to our understanding of eco-evolutionary feedbacks and the role of evolution in ecosystem dynamics.

Predators minimize energy costs, rather than maximize energy gains under warming: Evidence from a microcosm feeding experiment

Abstract Climate warming may alter predator–prey interactions and predator feeding behaviour due to increased metabolic demands. How predators meet these increased demands may depend on trade‐offs in prey energy content and body size, handling time and other functional constraints. We tested hypotheses associated with these trade‐offs with the predatory mite Stratiolaelaps scimitus, and three prey that differed in body size, energy content, and defenses (Folsomia candida, Oppia nitens, and Carpoglyphus lactis). We estimated metabolic rate, predation in choice and no choice feeding trials, movement rate, and lipid and protein content for all four species at 16°C and 24°C. We used these data to estimate the predator's energy demands and compared these to estimated energy intake in the choice feeding trials. Predators had greater metabolic demands at 24°C than at 16°C, but temperature did not affect predator or prey movement rates. Warming decreased lipid content, but not protein content, of all three prey species, leading to lower energy content for C. lactis and O. nitens, but not F. candida. In both feeding trials at 24°C, predators increased their feeding on the smaller, energy‐poor C. lactis, but not the larger, energy‐rich F. candida, resulting in lower estimated energy intake. S. scimitus did not feed on O. nitens at either temperature. Predators increasingly fed on small‐bodied prey under warming and not the large‐bodied prey despite the potential for greater energetic gains from larger prey. We posit that predators minimized energy lost during feeding through lower handling costs associated with C. lactis, rather than maximize energy gain. We conclude that selection of prey based on body size changes with temperature as a trade‐off for predators to balance increased metabolic demands. As predators provide top‐down control and regulate energy flow through the consumption of their prey, changes to predator feeding behaviour with climate warming may affect food web dynamics and ecosystem‐level processes. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Infected food web and ecological stability

Parasites are widespread in nature. Nevertheless, they have only recently been incorporated into food web studies and community ecology. Earlier studies revealed the large effects of parasites on food web network structures, suggesting that parasites affect food web dynamics and their stability. However, our understanding of the role of parasites in food web dynamics is limited to a few theoretical studies, which only assume parasite-induced mortality or virulence as a typical characteristic of parasites, without any large difference in terms of predation effects. Here, I present a food web model with parasites in which parasites change the mortality and interaction strengths of hosts by affecting host activity. The infected food web shows that virulence and infection rate have virtually no effect on food web stability without any difference in interaction strengths between susceptible and infected individuals. However, if predation rates are weakened through a restriction of the activity of infected individuals, virulence and infection rate can greatly influence stability: diseases with lower virulence and higher transmission rate tend to increase stability. The stabilization is stronger in cascade than random food webs. The present results suggest that parasites can greatly influence food web stability if parasite-induced diseases prevent host foraging activity. Parasite-induced infectious disease, by weaking species interactions, may play a key role in maintaining food webs.

Global climate change and the Baltic Sea ecosystem: direct and indirect effects on species, communities and ecosystem functioning

Abstract. Climate change has multiple effects on Baltic Sea species, communities and ecosystem functioning through changes in physical and biogeochemical environmental characteristics of the sea. Associated indirect and secondary effects on species interactions, trophic dynamics and ecosystem function are expected to be significant. We review studies investigating species-, population- and ecosystem-level effects of abiotic factors that may change due to global climate change, such as temperature, salinity, oxygen, pH, nutrient levels, and the more indirect biogeochemical and food web processes, primarily based on peer-reviewed literature published since 2010. For phytoplankton, clear symptoms of climate change, such as prolongation of the growing season, are evident and can be explained by the warming, but otherwise climate effects vary from species to species and area to area. Several modelling studies project a decrease of phytoplankton bloom in spring and an increase in cyanobacteria blooms in summer. The associated increase in N:P ratio may contribute to maintaining the “vicious circle of eutrophication”. However, uncertainties remain because some field studies claim that cyanobacteria have not increased and some experimental studies show that responses of cyanobacteria to temperature, salinity and pH vary from species to species. An increase of riverine dissolved organic matter (DOM) may also decrease primary production, but the relative importance of this process in different sea areas is not well known. Bacteria growth is favoured by increasing temperature and DOM, but complex effects in the microbial food web are probable. Warming of seawater in spring also speeds up zooplankton growth and shortens the time lag between phytoplankton and zooplankton peaks, which may lead to decreasing of phytoplankton in spring. In summer, a shift towards smaller-sized zooplankton and a decline of marine copepod species has been projected. In deep benthic communities, continued eutrophication promotes high sedimentation and maintains good food conditions for zoobenthos. If nutrient abatement proceeds, improving oxygen conditions will first increase zoobenthos biomass, but the subsequent decrease of sedimenting matter will disrupt the pelagic–benthic coupling and lead to a decreased zoobenthos biomass. In the shallower photic systems, heatwaves may produce eutrophication-like effects, e.g. overgrowth of bladderwrack by epiphytes, due to a trophic cascade. If salinity also declines, marine species such as bladderwrack, eelgrass and blue mussel may decline. Freshwater vascular plants will be favoured but they cannot replace macroalgae on rocky substrates. Consequently invertebrates and fish benefiting from macroalgal belts may also suffer. Climate-induced changes in the environment also favour establishment of non-indigenous species, potentially affecting food web dynamics in the Baltic Sea. As for fish, salinity decline and continuing of hypoxia is projected to keep cod stocks low, whereas the increasing temperature has been projected to favour sprat and certain coastal fish. Regime shifts and cascading effects have been observed in both pelagic and benthic systems as a result of several climatic and environmental effects acting synergistically. Knowledge gaps include uncertainties in projecting the future salinity level, as well as stratification and potential rate of internal loading, under different climate forcings. This weakens our ability to project how pelagic productivity, fish populations and macroalgal communities may change in the future. The 3D ecosystem models, food web models and 2D species distribution models would benefit from integration, but progress is slowed down by scale problems and inability of models to consider the complex interactions between species. Experimental work should be better integrated into empirical and modelling studies of food web dynamics to get a more comprehensive view of the responses of the pelagic and benthic systems to climate change, from bacteria to fish. In addition, to better understand the effects of climate change on the biodiversity of the Baltic Sea, more emphasis should be placed on studies of shallow photic environments. The fate of the Baltic Sea ecosystem will depend on various intertwined environmental factors and on development of the society. Climate change will probably delay the effects of nutrient abatement and tend to keep the ecosystem in its “novel” state. However, several modelling studies conclude that nutrient reductions will be a stronger driver for ecosystem functioning of the Baltic Sea than climate change. Such studies highlight the importance of studying the Baltic Sea as an interlinked socio-ecological system.

Predator Group Composition Indirectly Influences Food Web Dynamics through Predator Growth Rates.

AbstractConsiderable theoretical work predicts that intraspecific trait variation can have profound ecological consequences by altering species interactions. Because of their high flexibility, behavioral traits may be especially relevant in mediating how species respond to one another, thus affecting food web dynamics and ecosystem functioning. However, empirical evidence supporting this idea is limited. Here, we generated predator groups where we manipulated the composition of behavioral types within the groups to assess effects on predator growth rates, prey communities, basal resources, and ecosystem functioning in replicated outdoor ponds. Using European perch (Perca fluviatilis), we created three types of predator populations: two where all individuals expressed either bold or shy phenotypes and one that contained a mix of individuals of the two behavioral types. Bold perch grew faster in mixed populations, indicating that predator growth depends on each individual's behavioral type and that of its group members. However, there was no evidence that the behavioral composition of the perch population directly altered the dynamics of lower trophic levels. Instead, final perch biomass, not behavioral composition, had the strongest influence on lower trophic levels. Thus, the central question may not be whether predator behavior matters at all for trophic dynamics but rather when behavioral effects will predominate over effects of other influences, such as predator biomass variation.

Effects of temperature on a mixotrophic dinoflagellate (Lepidodinium sp.) under different nutritional strategies

Mixotrophs are widely distributed in aquatic ecosystems and play critical roles in the planktonic food web. However, how mixotrophs respond to projected ocean warming remains a debatable topic. To close the knowledge gap, we investigated the thermal responses of growth rate and functional traits of a mixotrophic dinoflagellate (Lepidodinium sp.) isolated from subtropical coastal waters. We found that Lepidodinium sp. is a facultative mixotroph with an obligate phototrophic lifestyle that adjusts its phagocytotic feeding according to inorganic nutrient concentrations. The thermal sensitivity in terms of activation energy (Ea, eV) of Lepidodinium sp. grown in mixotrophic mode (with sufficient prey, 0.69-0.89 eV) was significantly higher than in autotrophic mode (without prey, 0.30-0.37 eV). This finding is consistent with the results of predominantly heterotrophic mixotrophs, providing experimental evidence for the hypothesis that mixotrophs shift towards more heterotrophy with rising temperatures. Warming stimulated a higher growth rate of Lepidodinium sp. grown in mixotrophic conditions than in autotrophic conditions, indicating that mixotrophic dinoflagellates may benefit substantially from mixotrophy when temperature increases and prey is sufficient. Moreover, the cell size of both autotrophic and mixotrophic Lepidodinium sp. decreased with increasing temperature. The N:P and C:P ratios of Lepidodinium sp. did not vary with temperature, while the C:N ratio slightly increased. Our results suggest that mixotrophs like Lepidodinium sp. would become more heterotrophic with higher growth rates in warming oceans. The subsequent changes in their functional role from primary producers to consumers may affect food web dynamics and carbon and nutrient cycling.

Habitat segregation of plate phenotypes in a rapidly expanding population of three‐spined stickleback

AbstractDeclines of large predatory fish due to overexploitation are restructuring food webs across the globe. It is now becoming evident that restoring these altered food webs requires addressing not only ecological processes, but evolutionary ones as well, because human‐induced rapid evolution may in turn affect ecological dynamics. We studied the potential for niche differentiation between different plate armor phenotypes in a rapidly expanding population of a small prey fish, the three‐spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). In the central Baltic Sea, three‐spined stickleback abundance has increased dramatically during the past decades. The increase in this typical mesopredator has restructured near‐shore food webs, increased filamentous algal blooms, and threatens coastal biodiversity. Time‐series data covering 22 years show that the increase coincides with a decline in the number of juvenile perch (Perca fluviatilis), the most abundant predator of stickleback along the coast. We investigated the distribution of different stickleback plate armor phenotypes depending on latitude, environmental conditions, predator and prey abundances, nutrients, and benthic production; and described the stomach content of the stickleback phenotypes using metabarcoding. We found two distinct lateral armor plate phenotypes of stickleback, incompletely and completely plated. The proportion of incompletely plated individuals increased with increasing benthic production and decreasing abundances of adult perch. Metabarcoding showed that the stomach content of the completely plated individuals more often contained invertebrate herbivores (amphipods) than the incompletely plated ones. Since armor plates are defense structures favored by natural selection in the presence of fish predators, the phenotype distribution suggests that a novel low‐predation regime favors stickleback with less armor. Our results suggest that morphological differentiation of the three‐spined stickleback has the potential to affect food web dynamics and influence the persistence and resilience of the stickleback take‐over in the Baltic Sea.

The human hunter as predator: A new role under a food web restoration scenario

Pre-Neolithic hunter-gatherer populations were fully integrated in natural systems, they played an ecological role as top predators affecting food web dynamics according to predator-prey models, through which they maintained and controlled prey species numbers. However, human abilities to adapt to changing environments and different habitats as well as their capacity to expand, allowed them to occupy new environments in a formidable short lapse of time, where potential preys were unable to defend themselves against such a powerful predator. Humans were the origin of megafauna extinction in the America continent and other regions. But it was since Neolithic times, at the end of the last glacial period, when a huge change took place as humans started to manage and change the local environment through incipient crop cultivation and animal breeding. The ecological role of humans changed dramatically because, as technological advances progressed, as well as their survival rate and the ability to withstand severe weather conditions, they became a powerful species with the ability to alter all the environments and the eventual capacity to destroy them, often unintentionally. Further, humans have moved and introduced alien species across the world, causing unexpected outcomes, some of them seriously deleterious for the host fauna and flora. Currently, humans are increasingly concerned about land degradation and global warming effects and see the necessity of undertaking habitat restoration and promoting the so-called rewilding processes, including the reintroduction of wild grazers and large predators to attempt restore original food webs. An ecologically-driven human hunting activity may help in this restoration process, occupying top predators’ empty niches and promoting rural development through the sustainable use of the hunting resource.

Perennial grain crop roots and nitrogen management shape soil food webs and soil carbon dynamics

Perennial grain crops may confer greater ecosystem services relative to annual row crop systems due to their extensive roots systems and year-round ground cover. However, less is known about the extent to which perennial grain crops affect food web dynamics and soil carbon (C) cycling over time. Furthermore, many mechanistic questions remain regarding the influence of root quantity and quality on soil biological communities and C cycling function. In this study, we quantified root biomass and quality, bacterial and nematode community structure, and labile soil C pools of perennial intermediate wheatgrass [Thinopyrum intermedium (Host) Buckworth and Dewey] and annual winter wheat (Triticum aes L.) across three nitrogen (N) management systems (Organic, Low inorganic N, High inorganic N). After 4 years, the perennial grain crop had significantly greater root quantity and permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC) relative to annual wheat. Mineralizable C was similar between the two plant systems but differed by N management. Perenniality more than management influenced nematode community structure and function; perennial grains increased the structure index (a measure of trophic complexity) by 55% compared to annual wheat. Both plant type and management influenced bacterial communities, but not until the final year of the experiment. Our findings demonstrate that established perennial grain crops increase labile soil C and support more highly structured and complex food webs relative to annual cropping systems.

Temperature and prey density jointly influence trophic and non‐trophic interactions in multiple predator communities

AbstractEnvironmental changes such as global warming can affect ecological communities by altering individual life histories and species interactions. Recent studies focusing on the consequences of environmental change on species interactions highlighted the need for a wider, multi‐species context including both trophic and non‐trophic interactions (e.g. predator interference). However, the effects of biotic and abiotic factors on trophic and non‐trophic interactions remain largely unexplored.To fill this gap, we combined laboratory experiments and functional response modelling to investigate how temperature and prey density influence trophic and non‐trophic interactions in multiple predator communities.The system under study consisted of predatory dragonfly larvae (Aeshna cyanea) and omnivorous marbled crayfish (Procambarus virginalis) preying on common carp fry (Cyprinus carpio). We estimated the functional response of each predator in single‐predator experiments and used this information to disentangle the trophic and non‐trophic interactions and their dependence on environmental conditions in multiple predator trials.We found that consumer identity, prey density, and temperature all affect the magnitude of trophic and non‐trophic interactions. Non‐trophic interactions mostly decreased predator feeding rates, corroborating previous observations that interference prevails in aquatic communities. Moreover, trophic interactions depended primarily on the environmental variables whereas non‐trophic interactions depended mainly on consumer identity.Our results indicate that non‐trophic interactions among true predators and omnivores can be substantial and that biotic and abiotic conditions further modify the magnitude and direction of these interactions, which can affect food web dynamics and stability.

Arctic greening and bird nest predation risk across tundra ecotones

Alarming global-scale declines of bird numbers are occurring under the changing climate1, and species belonging to alpine and Arctic tundra are particularly affected2,3. Increased nest predation appears to be involved4, but the mechanisms linking predation to climate change remain to be shown. Here we test the prediction from food web theory that increased primary productivity (greening of tundra) in a warming Arctic leads to a higher risk of nest predation in tundra ecosystems. By exploiting landscape-scale spatial heterogeneity in areas of primary productivity across alpine tundra ecotones and supplied with experimental nests in sub-Arctic Scandinavia, we found that predation risk indeed increased with primary productivity. The productivity-predation risk relation was independent of the simultaneous effects of rodent population dynamics and vegetation cover at nest sites. Predation risk also increased steeply with altitude, implying that species at the high-altitude end of the alpine tundra ecotones are particularly vulnerable. Our study contributes to an improved understanding of how climate change may affect Arctic and alpine ecosystems and threaten endemic biodiversity through a trophic cascade. Bird numbers are declining globally, with sharp decreases in alpine and Arctic regions. Increases in primary productivity in the Arctic (known as greening) are linked to increased nest predation, highlighting how changing climate conditions can affect food web dynamics.

Fluorescent DOC characteristics are related to streamflow and pasture cover in streams of a mixed landscape

A growing body of research suggests that different land use activities may alter both the quantity and quality of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) exported from terrestrial landscapes. However, little is known about DOC from mixed-use landscapes where hydrology varies seasonally. This study examined how DOC and chemical properties of stream water were related to land use, drainage area, and streamflow in mixed-use landscape in the Willamette River Basin, Oregon. Stream water samples were collected at roughly monthly intervals over three water years from 21 sites whose drainage areas ranged from 1 to > 11,000 km2 and included pasture, forest, and developed land uses. DOC properties were characterized using PARAFAC (parallel factor) analyses of 3-D excitation and emission matrices (EEMs). We used the Cory-McKnight (CM) model, and we also developed a model unique to our samples. Thirteen components were identified using the CM model, and these were highly correlated with, and similar with respect to excitation and emission to the three components identified in our site-specific model. Fluorescent components of DOC were related to discharge and land cover, but not to drainage area. In our model, one component (C1) appeared to be associated with terrestrial detritus and was greater in streamflow from sites with forest/developed cover than from sites with high pasture cover. A second component (C2) was greater in streamflow from high-pasture sites than from high-forest sites. C2 was strongly correlated with a protein component identified in the CM model, and therefore we attributed this second component to more microbially-processed DOC. C1 increased significantly with discharge for both land covers, suggesting that periods of high flow produce less microbially-processed DOC from more surficial flow. C2 decreased significantly with discharge for both land covers, suggesting that deeper hydrologic flow paths produce more soil-associated, microbially processed DOC. SUVA254, often used as an index of chemical quality and aromaticity of DOC, was related only to streamflow but not land use, suggesting that while the chemistry of DOC differed among land use types as detected by EEMs analysis, the aromaticity of the DOC did not differ. The CM model and our site-specific model provided consistent results: those components that were highest in high pasture sites were also highest at low flow and appeared to be more microbially processed; components that were highest in low pasture sites were also greatest at high flow and appeared to reflect less microbially processed DOC. Taken together, these findings are consistent with a conceptual model of how differences in DOC chemistry among landscape types reflect differences in plant litter input chemistry, hydrologic connectivity, and degree of microbial processing. Such changes in DOC quality with land-use change can affect foodweb dynamics in receiving waters and change the balance between carbon storage and carbon flux to the atmosphere, and they imply that even non-intensive agricultural land use can have significant effects on terrestrial-aquatic carbon processes.

Ecological effects of sex differ with trophic positions in a simple food web.

Sexual differences in parental investment, predation pressure, and foraging efforts are common in nature and affect the trophic flow in food webs. Specifically, the sexual differences in predator and prey behavior change in trophic inflow and outflow, respectively, while those in parental investment alter the reproductive allocation of acquired resources in the population. Consequently, these factors may play an important role in determining the system structure and persistence. However, few studies have examined how sexual differences in trophic flow affect food web dynamics. In this study, I show the ecological role of sex by explicitly incorporating sexual differences in trophic flow into a three‐species food web model. The results demonstrated that the ecological waste of males, that is, the amount of trophic inflow into males with less parental investment, plays an important role in system persistence and structure. In particular, the synergy between sexual differences in parental investment and trophic inflows and outflows is important in determining web persistence: Significant impacts of male‐biased trophic flows require the condition of anisogamy. In addition, the dynamic effects of the ecological waste of males differ with trophic level: The coexistence of a food web occurs more frequently with biased inflows into predator males, but occurs less frequently with biased inflows into consumer males. The model analysis indicates that investigating the pattern of sexual differences among trophic positions can enrich our understanding of food web persistence and structure in the real world.

Oceanographic influences on the distribution and relative abundance of market squid paralarvae (Doryteuthis opalescens) off the Southern and Central California coast

AbstractMarket squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) are ecologically and economically important to the California Current Ecosystem, but populations undergo dramatic fluctuations that greatly affect food web dynamics and fishing communities. These population fluctuations are broadly attributed to 5–7‐years trends that can affect the oceanography across 1,000 km areas; however, monthly patterns over kilometer scales remain elusive. To investigate the population dynamics of market squid, we analysed the density and distribution of paralarvae in coastal waters from San Diego to Half Moon Bay, California, from 2011 to 2016. Warming local ocean conditions and a strong El Niño event drove a dramatic decline in relative paralarval abundance during the study period. Paralarval abundance was high during cool and productive La Niña conditions from 2011 to 2013, and extraordinarily low during warm and eutrophic El Niño conditions from 2015 to 2016 over the traditional spawning grounds in Southern and Central California. Market squid spawned earlier in the season and shifted northward during the transition from cool to warm ocean conditions. We used a general additive model to assess the variability in paralarval density and found that sea surface temperature (SST), zooplankton displacement volume, the log of surface chlorophyll‐a, and spatial and temporal predictor variables explained >40% of the deviance (adjusted r2 of .29). Greatest paralarval densities were associated with cool SST, moderate zooplankton concentrations and low chlorophyll‐a concentrations. In this paper we explore yearly and monthly trends in nearshore spawning for an economically important squid species and identify the major environmental influences that control their population variability.

Bayesian stock assessment of Pacific herring in Prince William Sound, Alaska.

The Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) population in Prince William Sound, Alaska crashed in 1993 and has yet to recover, affecting food web dynamics in the Sound and impacting Alaskan communities. To help researchers design and implement the most effective monitoring, management, and recovery programs, a Bayesian assessment of Prince William Sound herring was developed by reformulating the current model used by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The Bayesian model estimated pre-fishery spawning biomass of herring age-3 and older in 2013 to be a median of 19,410 mt (95% credibility interval 12,150–31,740 mt), with a 54% probability that biomass in 2013 was below the management limit used to regulate fisheries in Prince William Sound. The main advantages of the Bayesian model are that it can more objectively weight different datasets and provide estimates of uncertainty for model parameters and outputs, unlike the weighted sum-of-squares used in the original model. In addition, the revised model could be used to manage herring stocks with a decision rule that considers both stock status and the uncertainty in stock status.

Iron availability modulates the effects of future CO2 levels within the marine planktonic food web

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 565:17-33 (2017) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12025 Iron availability modulates the effects of future CO2 levels within the marine planktonic food web María Segovia1,*, M. Rosario Lorenzo1, María T. Maldonado2, Aud Larsen3, Stella A. Berger4,5, Tatiana M. Tsagaraki4, Francisco J. Lázaro6, Concepción Iñiguez1, Candela García-Gómez1,9, Armando Palma1, Michaela A. Mausz7,10, Francisco J. L. Gordillo1, Jose A. Fernández8, Jessica L. Ray3, Jorun K. Egge4 1Department of Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Málaga, Bulevar Louis Pasteur s/n, 29071 Málaga, Spain 2Department of Earth and Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2207 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada 3Uni Research Environment and Hjort Centre for Marine Ecosystem Dynamics, Thormøhlensgt 41, 5006 Bergen, Norway 4Department of Biology, Thormøhlensgt 53A/B, University of Bergen, 5020 Bergen, Norway 5Department of Experimental Limnology, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Alte Fischerhütte 2, 16775 Stechlin, Germany 6Department of Science and Technology of Materials and Fluids, University of Zaragoza, María de Luna 3, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain 7Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry/Bioorganic Analytics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany 8Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Málaga, Bulevar Louis Pasteur s/n, 29071 Málaga, Spain 9Present address: Spanish Oceanographic Institute (IEO), Puerto Pesquero, 29640 Fuengirola, Málaga, Spain 10Present address: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK *Corresponding author: segovia@uma.es ABSTRACT: Ocean acidification (OA) due to increased anthropogenic CO2 emissions is affecting marine ecosystems at an unprecedented rate, altering biogeochemical cycles. Direct empirical studies on natural communities are required to analyse the interactive effects of multiple stressors while spanning multiple trophic levels. We investigated the interactive effects of changes in CO2 and iron availability on functional plankton groups. We used mesocosms manipulating the carbonate system from the start to achieve present (low concentration, LC) and predicted future pCO2 levels (high concentration, HC). To manipulate dissolved iron (dFe), half of the mesocosms were amended with 70 nM (final concentration) of the siderophore desferoxamine B (DFB) on Day 7 (+DFB and -DFB treatments). Manipulation of both CO2 and DFB increased dFe compared to the control. During the 22 experimental days, the plankton community structure showed 2 distinct phases. In phase 1 (Days 1-10), only bacterioplankton abundances increased at elevated pCO2. In contrast, a strong community response was evident in phase 2 (Days 11-22) due to DFB addition. Biomass of the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi increased massively at LC+DFB. HC negatively affected E. huxleyi and Synechococcus sp., and high dFe (+DFB) had a positive effect on both. The rest of the plankton community was unaffected by the treatments. Increased dFe partially mitigated the negative effect of HC imposed on the coccolithophores, indicating that E. huxleyi was able to acclimate better to OA. This physiological iron-mediated acclimation can diminish the deleterious effects of OA on carbon export and the rain ratio, thus affecting food web dynamics and future ecosystem functioning. KEY WORDS: Global change · Iron · CO2 · Mesocosms · Plankton food web · Emiliania huxleyi · Synechococcus sp. Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: Segovia M, Lorenzo MR, Maldonado MT, Larsen A and others (2017) Iron availability modulates the effects of future CO2 levels within the marine planktonic food web. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 565:17-33. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12025 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 565. Online publication date: February 17, 2017 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2017 Inter-Research.