1
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Cirtwill AR, Åkesson A, Wootton KL, Eklöf A. Species motif participation provides unique information about species risk of extinction. J Anim Ecol 2024; 93:731-742. [PMID: 38556748 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.14081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
Loss of species in food webs can set in motion a cascade of additional (secondary) extinctions. A species' position in a food web (e.g. its trophic level or number of interactions) is known to affect its ability to persist following disturbance. These simple measures, however, offer only a coarse description of how species fit into their community. One would therefore expect that more detailed structural measures such as participation in three-species motifs (meso-scale structures which provide information on a species' direct and indirect interactions) will also be related to probability of persistence. Disturbances affecting the basal resources have particularly strong effects on the rest of the food web. However, how disturbances branch out and affect consumer persistence depends on the structural pattern of species interactions in several steps. The magnitude, for example, the proportion of basal resources lost, will likely also affect the outcome. Here, we analyse whether a consumer's risk of secondary extinction after the removal of basal resources depends on the consumer's motif participation and how this relationship varies with the severity of disturbance. We show that consumer species which participate more frequently in the direct competition motif and less frequently in the omnivory motif generally have higher probability of persistence following disturbance to basal resources. However, both the strength of the disturbance and the overall network structure (i.e. connectance) affect the strength and direction of relationships between motif participation and persistence. Motif participation therefore captures important trends in species persistence and provides a rich description of species' structural roles in their communities, but must be considered in the context of network structure as a whole and of the specific disturbance applied.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa R Cirtwill
- Spatial Foodweb Ecology Group, Research Centre for Ecological Change, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anna Åkesson
- Department of Theoretical Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Kate L Wootton
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Anna Eklöf
- Department of Theoretical Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
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2
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Vollert SA, Drovandi C, Adams MP. Unlocking ensemble ecosystem modelling for large and complex networks. PLoS Comput Biol 2024; 20:e1011976. [PMID: 38483981 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2023] [Revised: 03/26/2024] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/27/2024] Open
Abstract
The potential effects of conservation actions on threatened species can be predicted using ensemble ecosystem models by forecasting populations with and without intervention. These model ensembles commonly assume stable coexistence of species in the absence of available data. However, existing ensemble-generation methods become computationally inefficient as the size of the ecosystem network increases, preventing larger networks from being studied. We present a novel sequential Monte Carlo sampling approach for ensemble generation that is orders of magnitude faster than existing approaches. We demonstrate that the methods produce equivalent parameter inferences, model predictions, and tightly constrained parameter combinations using a novel sensitivity analysis method. For one case study, we demonstrate a speed-up from 108 days to 6 hours, while maintaining equivalent ensembles. Additionally, we demonstrate how to identify the parameter combinations that strongly drive feasibility and stability, drawing ecological insight from the ensembles. Now, for the first time, larger and more realistic networks can be practically simulated and analysed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah A Vollert
- Centre for Data Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Christopher Drovandi
- Centre for Data Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Matthew P Adams
- Centre for Data Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
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3
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Gauzens B, Kalinkat G, Antunes AC, Boy T, O'Gorman EJ, Jacob U, Jochum M, Kortsch S, Rosenbaum B, Figueiredo L, Brose U. Quantitative description of six fish species' gut contents and prey abundances in the Baltic Sea (1968-1978). Sci Data 2024; 11:236. [PMID: 38396055 PMCID: PMC10891096 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-024-03075-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2023] [Accepted: 02/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
The dataset presents a compilation of stomach contents from six demersal fish species from two functional groups inhabiting the Baltic Sea. It includes detailed information on prey identities, body masses, and biomasses recovered from both the fish's digestive systems and their surrounding environment. Environmental parameters, such as salinity and temperature levels, have been integrated to enrich this dataset. The juxtaposition of information on prey found in stomachs and in the environment provides an opportunity to quantify trophic interactions across different environmental contexts and investigate how fish foraging behaviour adapts to changes in their environment, such as an increase in temperature. The compilation of body mass and taxonomic information for all species allows approaching these new questions using either a taxonomic (based on species identity) or functional trait (based on body mass) approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benoit Gauzens
- EcoNetLab, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany.
| | - Gregor Kalinkat
- Department of Community and Ecosystem Ecology, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, Germany
| | - Ana Carolina Antunes
- EcoNetLab, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Thomas Boy
- EcoNetLab, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Eoin J O'Gorman
- School of Life Sciences, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK
| | - Ute Jacob
- Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB), Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany
- Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, D-27570, Bremerhaven, Germany
| | - Malte Jochum
- Experimental Interaction Ecology, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Leipzig University, Institute of Biology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Global Change Ecology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Susanne Kortsch
- Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki, Hanko, Finland
| | - Benjamin Rosenbaum
- EcoNetLab, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Ludmilla Figueiredo
- Integrative Biodiversity Data and Code Support Unit, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Informatics, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Ulrich Brose
- EcoNetLab, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
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4
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Zeng Y, Li J, Zhao Y, Yang W. Community ecological response to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Baiyangdian Lake based on an ecological model. ECOTOXICOLOGY (LONDON, ENGLAND) 2024; 33:34-46. [PMID: 38182933 PMCID: PMC10830818 DOI: 10.1007/s10646-023-02722-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024]
Abstract
The dynamic response of a single population to chemicals can be represented by a Weibull function. However, it is unclear whether the overall response can still be represented in this manner when scaled up to the community level. In this study, we investigated the responses of biological communities to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by using an ecological model of Baiyangdian Lake in northern China. The community dynamics process was divided into the following three stages. In the first stage, toxicity, played a dominant role and strong, medium, and weak species responses were observed according to the toxicity sensitivity. In the second stage, the dynamic process was dominated by the interaction strength with three alternative dynamic pathways comprising of direct response, no response, or inverse response. In the third stage, the toxicity was again dominant, and the biomasses of all species decreased to extinction. The toxicological dynamics were far more complex at the community level than those at the single species level and they were also influenced by the interaction strength as well as toxicity. The toxicological dynamic process in the community was constantly driven by the competing effects of these two forces. In addition to the total biomass, the interaction strength was identified as a suitable community-level signal because it exhibited good indicator properties regarding ecosystem steady-state transitions. However, we found that food web stability indicators were not suitable for use as community-level signals because they were not sensitive to changes in the ecosystem state. Some ecological management suggestions have been proposed, including medium to long-term monitoring, and reduction of external pollution loads and bioindicators. The results obtained in this study increase our understanding of how chemicals interfere with community dynamics, and the interaction strength and total biomass were identified as useful holistic indicators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong Zeng
- State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, Beijing Key Laboratory of Oil & Gas Pollution Control, College of Chemical Engineering and Environment, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China.
| | - Jiaxin Li
- State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, Beijing Key Laboratory of Oil & Gas Pollution Control, College of Chemical Engineering and Environment, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China
| | - Yanwei Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Wei Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
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5
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Scholl EA, Cross WF, Guy CS, Dutton AJ, Junker JR. Landscape diversity promotes stable food-web architectures in large rivers. Ecol Lett 2023; 26:1740-1751. [PMID: 37497804 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2023] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 07/28/2023]
Abstract
Uncovering relationships between landscape diversity and species interactions is crucial for predicting how ongoing land-use change and homogenization will impact the stability and persistence of communities. However, such connections have rarely been quantified in nature. We coupled high-resolution river sonar imaging with annualized energetic food webs to quantify relationships among habitat diversity, energy flux, and trophic interaction strengths in large-river food-web modules that support the endangered Pallid Sturgeon. Our results demonstrate a clear relationship between habitat diversity and species interaction strengths, with more diverse foraging landscapes containing higher production of prey and a greater proportion of weak and potentially stabilizing interactions. Additionally, rare patches of large and relatively stable river sediments intensified these effects and further reduced interaction strengths by increasing prey diversity. Our findings highlight the importance of landscape characteristics in promoting stabilizing food-web architectures and provide direct relevance for future management of imperilled species in a simplified and rapidly changing world.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Wyatt F Cross
- Department of Ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
| | - Christopher S Guy
- U.S. Geological Survey, Montana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, Department of Ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
| | - Adeline J Dutton
- Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Lansing, Michigan, USA
- Montana Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, Bozeman, Montana, USA
| | - James R Junker
- Department of Ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA
- Great Lakes Research Center 100 Phoenix Drive, Houghton, Michigan, USA
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6
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Shen C, Lemmen K, Alexander J, Pennekamp F. Connecting higher-order interactions with ecological stability in experimental aquatic food webs. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10502. [PMID: 37693938 PMCID: PMC10483096 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2023] [Revised: 07/11/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 09/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Community ecology is built on theories that represent the strength of interactions between species as pairwise links. Higher-order interactions (HOIs) occur when a species changes the pairwise interaction between a focal pair. Recent theoretical work has highlighted the stabilizing role of HOIs for large, simulated communities, yet it remains unclear how important higher-order effects are in real communities. Here, we used experimental communities of aquatic protists to examine the relationship between HOIs and stability (as measured by the persistence of a species in a community). We cultured a focal pair of consumers in the presence of additional competitors and a predator and collected time series data of their abundances. We then fitted competition models with and without HOIs to measure interaction strength between the focal pair across different community compositions. We used survival analysis to measure the persistence of individual species. We found evidence that additional species positively affected persistence of the focal species and that HOIs were present in most of our communities. However, persistence was only linked to HOIs for one of the focal species. Our results vindicate community ecology theory positing that species interactions may deviate from assumptions of pairwise interactions, opening avenues to consider possible consequences for coexistence and stability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenyu Shen
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
- Department of Environmental Systems ScienceInstitute for Integrative Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of TechnologyZurichSwitzerland
| | - Kimberley Lemmen
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Jake Alexander
- Department of Environmental Systems ScienceInstitute for Integrative Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of TechnologyZurichSwitzerland
| | - Frank Pennekamp
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
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7
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Gellner G, McCann K, Hastings A. Stable diverse food webs become more common when interactions are more biologically constrained. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2212061120. [PMID: 37487080 PMCID: PMC10400988 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2212061120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Accepted: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 07/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Ecologists have long sought to understand how diversity and structure mediate the stability of whole ecosystems. For high-diversity food webs, the interactions between species are typically represented using matrices with randomly chosen interaction strengths. Unfortunately, this procedure tends to produce ecological systems with no underlying equilibrium solution, and so ecological inferences from this approach may be biased by nonbiological outcomes. Using recent computationally efficient methodological advances from metabolic networks, we employ for the first time an inverse approach to diversity-stability research. We compare classical random interaction matrices of realistic food web topology (hereafter the classical model) to feasible, biologically constrained, webs produced using the inverse approach. We show that an energetically constrained feasible model yields a far higher proportion of stable high-diversity webs than the classical random matrix approach. When we examine the energetically constrained interaction strength distributions of these matrix models, we find that although these diverse webs have consistent negative self-regulation, they do not require strong self-regulation to persist. These energetically constrained diverse webs instead show an increasing preponderance of weak interactions that are known to increase local stability. Further examination shows that some of these weak interactions naturally appear to arise in the model food webs from a constraint-generated realistic generalist-specialist trade-off, whereby generalist predators have weaker interactions than more specialized species. Additionally, the inverse technique we present here has enormous promise for understanding the role of the biological structure behind stable high-diversity webs and for linking empirical data to the theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriel Gellner
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ONN1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Kevin McCann
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ONN1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Alan Hastings
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, CA95616
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM87501
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8
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Patonai K, Jordán F, Castaldelli G, Congiu L, Gavioli A. Spatial variability of the Po River food web and its comparison with the Danube River food web. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0288652. [PMID: 37450464 PMCID: PMC10348563 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0288652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Accepted: 06/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Freshwater ecosystems are experiencing unprecedented pressure globally. To address environmental challenges, systematic and comparative studies on ecosystems are needed, though mostly lacking, especially for rivers. Here, we describe the food web of the Po River (as integrated from the white literature and monitoring data), describe the three river sections using network analysis, and compare our results with the previously compiled Danube River food web. The Po River food web was taxonomically aggregated in five consecutive steps (T1-T5) and it was also analyzed using the regular equivalence (REGE) algorithm to identify structurally similar nodes in the most aggregated T5 model. In total, the two river food webs shared 30 nodes. Two network metrics (normalized degree centrality [nDC]) and normalized betweenness centrality [nBC]) were compared using Mann-Whitney tests in the two rivers. On average, the Po River nodes have larger nDC values than in the Danube, meaning that neighboring connections are better mapped. Regarding nBC, there were no significant differences between the two rivers. Finally, based on both centrality indices, Carassius auratus is the most important node in the Po River food web, whereas phytoplankton and detritus are most important in the Danube River. Using network analysis and comparative methods, it is possible to draw attention to important trophic groups and knowledge gaps, which can guide future research. These simple models for the Po River food web can pave the way for more advanced models, supporting quantitative and predictive-as well as more functional-descriptions of ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katalin Patonai
- Department of Environmental and Prevention Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
- Department of Plant Systematics, Ecology and Theoretical Biology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Ferenc Jordán
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Castaldelli
- Department of Environmental and Prevention Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
| | | | - Anna Gavioli
- Department of Environmental and Prevention Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
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9
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Li X, Yang W, Ma X, Zhu Z, Sun T, Cui B, Yang Z. Invasive Spartina alterniflora habitat forms high energy fluxes but low food web stability compared to adjacent native vegetated habitats. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2023; 334:117487. [PMID: 36801685 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2022] [Revised: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Invasive Spartina spp. mostly colonizes a bare tidal flat and then establishes a new vegetated habitat, where it promotes the productivity of local ecosystems. However, it was unclear whether the invasive habitat could well exhibit ecosystem functioning, e.g. how its high productivity propagates throughout the food web and whether it thereby develops a high food web stability relative to native vegetated habitats. By developing quantitative food webs for a long-established invasive Spartina alterniflora habitat and adjacent native salt marsh (Suaeda salsa) and seagrass (Zostera japonica) habitats in China's Yellow River Delta, we investigated the distributions of energy fluxes, assessed the stability of food webs, and investigated the net trophic effects between trophic groups by combining all direct and indirect trophic interactions. Results showed that the total energy flux in the invasive S. alterniflora habitat was comparable to that in the Z. japonica habitat, whereas 4.5 times higher than that in the S. salsa habitat. While, the invasive habitat had the lowest trophic transfer efficiencies. Food web stability in the invasive habitat was about 3 and 40 times lower than that in the S. salsa and Z. japonica habitats, respectively. Additionally, there were strong net effects caused by intermediate invertebrate species in the invasive habitat rather than by fish species in both native habitats. This study revealed the contradiction between the promotion of energy fluxes and the decrease of food web stability resulting from the invasion of S. alterniflora, which provides new insights into the community-based management of plant invasions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoxiao Li
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Quality Improvement and Ecological Restoration for Watersheds, School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China; State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, 511458, China
| | - Wei Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; Yellow River Estuary Wetland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Ministry of Education, Shandong, 257500, China.
| | - Xu Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, China
| | - Zhenchang Zhu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Quality Improvement and Ecological Restoration for Watersheds, School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, 511458, China
| | - Tao Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; Yellow River Estuary Wetland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Ministry of Education, Shandong, 257500, China
| | - Baoshan Cui
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; Yellow River Estuary Wetland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Ministry of Education, Shandong, 257500, China
| | - Zhifeng Yang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Quality Improvement and Ecological Restoration for Watersheds, School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China; State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, 511458, China.
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10
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Terrestrial food web of the Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary, Colombia: An analysis from a topological approach. ECOL INFORM 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2023.102074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/22/2023]
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11
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González C. Evolution of the concept of ecological integrity and its study through networks. Ecol Modell 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2022.110224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
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12
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Karachle PK, Oikonomou A, Pantazi M, Stergiou KI, Zenetos A. Can Biological Traits Serve as Predictors for Fishes' Introductions, Establishment, and Interactions? The Mediterranean Sea as a Case Study. BIOLOGY 2022; 11:1625. [PMID: 36358326 PMCID: PMC9687294 DOI: 10.3390/biology11111625] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2022] [Revised: 10/25/2022] [Accepted: 11/02/2022] [Indexed: 07/30/2023]
Abstract
The Mediterranean Sea (MED) is prone to species' introductions, induced by human activities and/or climate change. Recent studies focus on the biological traits that result in such introductions, yet on a single-area-type approach. Here, we used, analyzed, and compared biological traits derived from FishBase for MED, non-indigenous (NIS) and neonative (NEO) in the Mediterranean, and adjacent Atlantic (ATL) and Red Sea (RS) species. A quantitative trait-based analysis was performed using random forest to determine the importance of traits in the successful establishment in the Mediterranean. MED fishes were mainly demersal, slow growing and small-medium sized, preferring intermediate temperatures. Conversely, ATL were mainly deep-dwelling species, preferring low temperatures. RS and NIS were predominantly reef-associated, thermophilus, and stenothermic. NEO species were stenothermic with preference to intermediate-high temperatures. Omnivores with preference to animals was the most common trophic group among regions. MED species exhibited higher phylogenetic uniqueness (PD50) compared to RS and NIS, indicating that they have long ancestral branches and few descendants. Preferred temperature, habitat type preference and maximum reported length (Lmax) and infinite length (Linf) were the most important predictors in the establishment process. Overall, the results presented here could serve as a baseline for future research, especially by using more refined and/or additional biological trail estimates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paraskevi K. Karachle
- Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, 19013 Attika, Greece
| | - Anthi Oikonomou
- Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, 19013 Attika, Greece
| | - Maria Pantazi
- Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, 19013 Attika, Greece
| | - Konstantinos I. Stergiou
- Department of Zoology, School of Biology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, U.P.B. 134, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Argyro Zenetos
- Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, 19013 Attika, Greece
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13
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Cirtwill AR, Wootton KL. Stable motifs delay species loss in simulated food webs. OIKOS 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.09436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa R. Cirtwill
- Spatial Foodweb Ecology Group, Research Centre for Ecological Change, Organismal and Evolutionary, Biology Research Programme, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Univ. of Helsinki Helsinki Finland
| | - Kate L. Wootton
- Biofrontiers Inst., Univ. of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO USA
- Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden
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14
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Vagnon C, Rohr RP, Bersier LF, Cattanéo F, Guillard J, Frossard V. Combining food web theory and population dynamics to assess the impact of invasive species. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.913954] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The impacts of invasive species on resident communities are driven by a tangle of ecological interactions difficult to quantify empirically. Combining a niche model with a population dynamic model, both allometrically parametrized, may represent a consistent framework to investigate invasive species impacts on resident communities in a food web context when empirical data are scarce. We used this framework to assess the ecological consequences of an invasive apex predator (Silurus glanis) in peri-Alpine lake food webs. Both increases and decreases of resident species abundances were highlighted and differed when accounting for different S. glanis body sizes. Complementarily, the prominence of indirect effects, such as trophic cascades, suggested that common approaches may only capture a restricted fraction of invasion consequences through direct predation or competition. By leveraging widely available biodiversity data, our approach may provide relevant insights for a comprehensive assessment and management of invasive species impacts on aquatic ecosystems.
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15
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Kuiper JJ, Kooi BW, Peterson GD, Mooij WM. Bridging Theories for Ecosystem Stability Through Structural Sensitivity Analysis of Ecological Models in Equilibrium. Acta Biotheor 2022; 70:18. [PMID: 35737146 PMCID: PMC9225980 DOI: 10.1007/s10441-022-09441-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Ecologists are challenged by the need to bridge and synthesize different approaches and theories to obtain a coherent understanding of ecosystems in a changing world. Both food web theory and regime shift theory shine light on mechanisms that confer stability to ecosystems, but from different angles. Empirical food web models are developed to analyze how equilibria in real multi-trophic ecosystems are shaped by species interactions, and often include linear functional response terms for simple estimation of interaction strengths from observations. Models of regime shifts focus on qualitative changes of equilibrium points in a slowly changing environment, and typically include non-linear functional response terms. Currently, it is unclear how the stability of an empirical food web model, expressed as the rate of system recovery after a small perturbation, relates to the vulnerability of the ecosystem to collapse. Here, we conduct structural sensitivity analyses of classical consumer-resource models in equilibrium along an environmental gradient. Specifically, we change non-proportional interaction terms into proportional ones, while maintaining the equilibrium biomass densities and material flux rates, to analyze how alternative model formulations shape the stability properties of the equilibria. The results reveal no consistent relationship between the stability of the original models and the proportionalized versions, even though they describe the same biomass values and material flows. We use these findings to critically discuss whether stability analysis of observed equilibria by empirical food web models can provide insight into regime shift dynamics, and highlight the challenge of bridging alternative modelling approaches in ecology and beyond.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan J Kuiper
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, SE 10691, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Department of Aquatic Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, P.O. Box 50, 6700 AB, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Bob W Kooi
- Faculty of Science, VU University, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Garry D Peterson
- Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, SE 10691, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Wolf M Mooij
- Department of Aquatic Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, P.O. Box 50, 6700 AB, Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
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16
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Selaković S, Säterberg T, Heesterbeek H. Ecological impact of changes in intrinsic growth rates of species at different trophic levels. OIKOS 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sanja Selaković
- Dept of Plant Science, Laboratory of Nematology, Wageningen Univ. Wageningen the Netherlands
| | - Torbjörn Säterberg
- Dept of Aquatic Resources, Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences Öregrund Sweden
| | - Hans Heesterbeek
- Dept of Population Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht Univ. Utrecht the Netherlands
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17
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OUP accepted manuscript. Bioscience 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biab144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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18
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Schonberger ZG, McCann K, Gellner G. Strong nutrient-plant interactions enhance the stability of ecosystems. Commun Biol 2021; 4:1202. [PMID: 34671095 PMCID: PMC8528884 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02737-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2021] [Accepted: 09/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Modular food web theory shows how weak energetic fluxes resulting from consumptive interactions plays a major role in stabilizing food webs in space and time. Despite the reliance on energetic fluxes, food web theory surprisingly remains poorly understood within an ecosystem context that naturally focuses on material fluxes. At the same time, while ecosystem theory has employed modular nutrient-limited ecosystem models to understand how limiting nutrients alter the structure and dynamics of food webs, ecosystem theory has overlooked the role of key ecosystem interactions and their strengths (e.g., plant-nutrient; R-N) in mediating the stability of nutrient-limited ecosystems. Here, towards integrating food web theory and ecosystem theory, we first briefly review consumer-resource interactions (C-R) highlighting the relationship between the structure of C-R interactions and the stability of food web modules. We then translate this framework to nutrient-based systems, showing that the nutrient-plant interaction behaves as a coherent extension of current modular food web theory; however, in contrast to the rule that weak C-R interactions tend to be stabilizing we show that strong nutrient-plant interactions are potent stabilizers in nutrient-limited ecosystem models.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kevin McCann
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Gabriel Gellner
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada
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19
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Li X, Yang W, Gaedke U, de Ruiter PC. Energetic constraints imposed on trophic interaction strengths enhance resilience in empirical and model food webs. J Anim Ecol 2021; 90:2065-2076. [PMID: 33844855 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2020] [Accepted: 03/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Food web stability and resilience are at the heart of understanding the structure and functioning of ecosystems. Previous studies show that models of empirical food webs are substantially more stable than random ones, due to a few strong interactions embedded in a majority of weak interactions. Analyses of trophic interaction loops show that in empirical food webs the patterns of the interaction strengths prevent the occurrence of destabilizing heavy loops and thereby enhances resilience. Yet, it is still unexplored which biological mechanisms cause these patterns that enhance food web resilience. We quantified food web resilience using the real part of the maximum eigenvalue of the Jacobian matrix of the food web from a seagrass bed in the Yellow River Delta (YRD) wetland, that could be parametrized by the empirical data of the food web. We found that the empirically based Jacobian matrix of the YRD food web indicated a much higher resilience than random matrices with the same element values but arranged in random ways. Investigating the trophic interaction loops revealed that the high resilience was due to a negative correlation between the negative and positive interaction strengths (per capita top-down and bottom-up effects, respectively) within positive feedback loops with three species. The negative correlation showed that when the negative interaction strengths were strong the positive was weak, and vice versa. Our invented reformulation of loop weight in terms of biomasses and specific production rates showed that energetic properties of the trophic groups in the loop and mass-balance constraints, for example, the food uptake has to balance all losses, created the negative correlation between the interaction strengths. This result could be generalized using a dynamic intraguild predation model, which delivered the same pattern for a wide range of model parameters. Our results shed light on how energetic constraints at the trophic group and food web level create a pattern of interaction strengths within trophic interaction loops that enhances food web resilience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoxiao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Wei Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Yellow River Estuary Wetland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Ministry of Education, Shandong, China
| | - Ursula Gaedke
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Peter C de Ruiter
- Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.,Biometris, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.,Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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20
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Bartel SL, Orrock JL. An omnivorous mesopredator modifies predation of omnivore‐dispersed seeds. Ecosphere 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.3369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Savannah L. Bartel
- University of Wisconsin – Madison 363 Birge Hall, 430 Lincoln Drive Madison Wisconsin53706USA
| | - John L. Orrock
- University of Wisconsin – Madison 363 Birge Hall, 430 Lincoln Drive Madison Wisconsin53706USA
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21
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Galiana N, Arnoldi JF, Barbier M, Acloque A, de Mazancourt C, Loreau M. Can biomass distribution across trophic levels predict trophic cascades? Ecol Lett 2020; 24:464-476. [PMID: 33314592 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2020] [Accepted: 11/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The biomass distribution across trophic levels (biomass pyramid) and cascading responses to perturbations (trophic cascades) are archetypal representatives of the interconnected set of static and dynamical properties of food chains. A vast literature has explored their respective ecological drivers, sometimes generating correlations between them. Here we instead reveal a fundamental connection: both pyramids and cascades reflect the dynamical sensitivity of the food chain to changes in species intrinsic rates. We deduce a direct relationship between cascades and pyramids, modulated by what we call trophic dissipation - a synthetic concept that encodes the contribution of top-down propagation of consumer losses in the biomass pyramid. Predictable across-ecosystem patterns emerge when systems are in similar regimes of trophic dissipation. Data from 31 aquatic mesocosm experiments demonstrate how our approach can reveal the causal mechanisms linking trophic cascades and biomass distributions, thus providing a road map to deduce reliable predictions from empirical patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Núria Galiana
- Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS, Moulis, 09200, France
| | - Jean-François Arnoldi
- Zoology Department, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin, Ireland
| | - Matthieu Barbier
- Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS, Moulis, 09200, France
| | - Amandine Acloque
- Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS, Moulis, 09200, France
| | | | - Michel Loreau
- Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS, Moulis, 09200, France
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22
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Downing AL, Jackson C, Plunkett C, Ackerman Lockhart J, Schlater SM, Leibold MA. Temporal stability vs. community matrix measures of stability and the role of weak interactions. Ecol Lett 2020; 23:1468-1478. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.13538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2020] [Revised: 04/22/2020] [Accepted: 05/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Amy L. Downing
- Department of Zoology Ohio Wesleyan University Delaware OH USA
| | - Craig Jackson
- Mathematics and Computer Science Ohio Wesleyan University Delaware OH USA
| | - Claire Plunkett
- Department of Mathematics University of Utah Salt Lake City UT USA
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23
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Wang R, Dearing JA, Doncaster CP, Yang X, Zhang E, Langdon PG, Yang H, Dong X, Hu Z, Xu M, Zhao Y, Shen J. Network parameters quantify loss of assemblage structure in human-impacted lake ecosystems. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2019; 25:3871-3882. [PMID: 31344301 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2018] [Revised: 06/25/2019] [Accepted: 07/13/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Lake biodiversity is an incomplete indicator of exogenous forcing insofar as it ignores underlying deformations of community structure. Here, we seek a proxy for deformation in a network of diatom assemblages comprising 452 species in 273 lakes across China. We test predictions from network theory that nodes of similar type will tend to self-organize in an unstressed system to a positively skewed frequency distribution of nodal degree. The empirical data reveal shifts in the frequency distributions of species associations across regions, from positive skew in lakes in west China with a history of low human impacts, to predominantly negative skew amongst lakes in highly disturbed regions in east China. Skew values relate strongly to nutrient loading from agricultural activity and urbanization, as measured by total phosphorus in lake water. Reconstructions through time show that positive skew reduces with temporal intensification of human impacts in the lake and surrounding catchments, and rises as lakes recover from disturbance. Our study illustrates how network parameters can track the loss of aquatic assemblage structure in lakes associated with human pressures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rong Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - John A Dearing
- School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | | | - Xiangdong Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Enlou Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Peter G Langdon
- School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - Hui Yang
- School of Mathematics and Physics, Anhui University of Technology, Ma'anshan, China
| | - Xuhui Dong
- School of Geographical Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Zhujun Hu
- School of Geography Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
| | - Min Xu
- School of Geography Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
| | - Yanjie Zhao
- School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - Ji Shen
- State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
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24
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Harmon LJ, Andreazzi CS, Débarre F, Drury J, Goldberg EE, Martins AB, Melián CJ, Narwani A, Nuismer SL, Pennell MW, Rudman SM, Seehausen O, Silvestro D, Weber M, Matthews B. Detecting the macroevolutionary signal of species interactions. J Evol Biol 2019; 32:769-782. [DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2018] [Revised: 03/26/2019] [Accepted: 04/04/2019] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Luke J. Harmon
- Department of Fish Ecology and Evolution, Center for Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry Eawag Kastanienbaum Switzerland
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Idaho Moscow Idaho
| | | | - Florence Débarre
- Sorbonne Université, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Université Paris Diderot, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (UMR7618) Paris France
| | | | - Emma E. Goldberg
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior University of Minnesota Saint Paul Minnesota
| | - Ayana B. Martins
- Department of Fish Ecology and Evolution, Center for Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry Eawag Kastanienbaum Switzerland
- Instituto de Física ‘Gleb Wataghin’ Universidade Estadual de Campinas Campinas Brazil
| | - Carlos J. Melián
- Department of Fish Ecology and Evolution, Center for Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry Eawag Kastanienbaum Switzerland
| | - Anita Narwani
- Department of Aquatic Ecology Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology Eawag Dübendorf Switzerland
| | - Scott L. Nuismer
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Idaho Moscow Idaho
| | - Matthew W. Pennell
- Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre University of British Columbia Vancouver British Columbia
| | - Seth M. Rudman
- Department of Biology University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia Pennsylvania
| | - Ole Seehausen
- Department of Fish Ecology and Evolution, Center for Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry Eawag Kastanienbaum Switzerland
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution University of Bern Bern Switzerland
| | - Daniele Silvestro
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences Global Gothenburg Biodiversity Centre University of Gothenburg Gothenburg Sweden
| | - Marjorie Weber
- Department of Plant Biology & Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Michigan State University East Lansing Michigan
| | - Blake Matthews
- Department of Fish Ecology and Evolution, Center for Ecology, Evolution and Biogeochemistry Eawag Kastanienbaum Switzerland
- Aquatic Ecology and Evolution, Institute of Ecology and Evolution University of Bern Bern Switzerland
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25
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Zhao Q, Van den Brink PJ, Carpentier C, Wang YXG, Rodríguez-Sánchez P, Xu C, Vollbrecht S, Gillissen F, Vollebregt M, Wang S, De Laender F. Horizontal and vertical diversity jointly shape food web stability against small and large perturbations. Ecol Lett 2019; 22:1152-1162. [PMID: 31095883 PMCID: PMC6852190 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2019] [Revised: 02/19/2019] [Accepted: 04/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The biodiversity of food webs is composed of horizontal (i.e. within trophic levels) and vertical diversity (i.e. the number of trophic levels). Understanding their joint effect on stability is a key challenge. Theory mostly considers their individual effects and focuses on small perturbations near equilibrium in hypothetical food webs. Here, we study the joint effects of horizontal and vertical diversity on the stability of hypothetical (modelled) and empirical food webs. In modelled food webs, horizontal and vertical diversity increased and decreased stability, respectively, with a stronger positive effect of producer diversity on stability at higher consumer diversity. Experiments with an empirical plankton food web, where we manipulated horizontal and vertical diversity and measured stability from species interactions and from resilience against large perturbations, confirmed these predictions. Taken together, our findings highlight the need to conserve horizontal biodiversity at different trophic levels to ensure stability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qinghua Zhao
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Paul J Van den Brink
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.,Wageningen Environmental Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Camille Carpentier
- Research Unit of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, Namur Institute of Complex Systems, and Institute of Life, Earth, and the Environment, University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles 61, 5000, Namur, Belgium
| | - Yingying X G Wang
- Resource Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 3a, 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Pablo Rodríguez-Sánchez
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Chi Xu
- School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China
| | - Silke Vollbrecht
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Frits Gillissen
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Marlies Vollebregt
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Shaopeng Wang
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, 100871, Beijing, China
| | - Frederik De Laender
- Research Unit of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, Namur Institute of Complex Systems, and Institute of Life, Earth, and the Environment, University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles 61, 5000, Namur, Belgium
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26
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Morissette O, Sirois P, Wilson CC, Laporte M, Bernatchez L. The role of ecotype-environment interactions in intraspecific trophic niche partitioning subsequent to stocking. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2019; 29:e01857. [PMID: 30680837 DOI: 10.1002/eap.1857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2018] [Revised: 12/18/2018] [Accepted: 01/03/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Worldwide, stocking of fish represents a valuable tool for conservation and maintenance of species exploited by recreational fishing. Releases of hatchery-reared fish are more and more recognized to have numerous demographic, ecological, and genetic impacts on wild populations. However, consequences on intraspecific trophic relationships have rarely been investigated. In this study, we assessed the impacts of supplementation stocking and resulting introgressive hybridization on the trophic niches occupied by stocked, local, and hybrid lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) within populations of piscivorous and planktivorous ecotypes stocked from a wild piscivorous source population. We compared trophic niches using stable isotope analysis (δ13 C and δ15 N) and trophic position among the three genetic origins. Putative genetic effects were tested with phenotype-genotype association of "life history" ecological traits (body size, growth rate, condition index, and trophic niche) and genotypes (RADseq SNP markers) using redundant discriminant analysis (RDA). Results showed that sympatry resulting from the stocking of contrasting ecotypes is a risk factor for niche partitioning. Planktivorous populations are more susceptible to niche partitioning, by competitive exclusion of the local fish from a littoral niche to an alternative pelagic/profundal niche. Observed niche partitioning is probably a manifestation of competitive interactions between ecotypes. Our results emphasize that ecotypic variation should be considered for more efficient management and conservation practices and in order to mitigate negative impact of supplementation stocking.
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Affiliation(s)
- O Morissette
- Institut de Biologie Intégrative des Systèmes (IBIS), Université Laval, Québec, Quebec, G1V0A6, Canada
- Chaire de recherche sur les espèces aquatiques exploitées, Laboratoire des sciences aquatiques, Département des sciences fondamentales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Quebec, G7H2B1, Canada
| | - P Sirois
- Chaire de recherche sur les espèces aquatiques exploitées, Laboratoire des sciences aquatiques, Département des sciences fondamentales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Quebec, G7H2B1, Canada
| | - C C Wilson
- Aquatic Research and Development Section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Peterborough, Ontario, K9J3C7, Canada
| | - M Laporte
- Institut de Biologie Intégrative des Systèmes (IBIS), Université Laval, Québec, Quebec, G1V0A6, Canada
| | - L Bernatchez
- Institut de Biologie Intégrative des Systèmes (IBIS), Université Laval, Québec, Quebec, G1V0A6, Canada
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27
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Yang Q, Fowler MS, Jackson AL, Donohue I. The predictability of ecological stability in a noisy world. Nat Ecol Evol 2019; 3:251-259. [DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0794-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2018] [Accepted: 12/20/2018] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
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28
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Cirtwill AR, Dalla Riva GV, Gaiarsa MP, Bimler MD, Cagua EF, Coux C, Dehling DM. A review of species role concepts in food webs. FOOD WEBS 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.fooweb.2018.e00093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
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29
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Landi P, Minoarivelo HO, Brännström Å, Hui C, Dieckmann U. Complexity and stability of ecological networks: a review of the theory. POPUL ECOL 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s10144-018-0628-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 182] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Pietro Landi
- Department of Mathematical SciencesStellenbosch UniversityStellenboschSouth Africa
- Evolution and Ecology ProgramInternational Institute for Applied Systems AnalysisLaxenburgAustria
| | - Henintsoa O. Minoarivelo
- Department of Mathematical SciencesStellenbosch UniversityStellenboschSouth Africa
- Centre of Excellence in Mathematical and Statistical SciencesWits UniversityJohannesburgSouth Africa
| | - Åke Brännström
- Evolution and Ecology ProgramInternational Institute for Applied Systems AnalysisLaxenburgAustria
- Department of Mathematics and Mathematical StatisticsUmeå UniversityUmeåSweden
| | - Cang Hui
- Department of Mathematical SciencesStellenbosch UniversityStellenboschSouth Africa
- Mathematical and Physical BiosciencesAfrican Institute for Mathematical SciencesMuizenbergSouth Africa
| | - Ulf Dieckmann
- Evolution and Ecology ProgramInternational Institute for Applied Systems AnalysisLaxenburgAustria
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30
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Identifying a common backbone of interactions underlying food webs from different ecosystems. Nat Commun 2018; 9:2603. [PMID: 29973596 PMCID: PMC6031633 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05056-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2017] [Accepted: 06/11/2018] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Although the structure of empirical food webs can differ between ecosystems, there is growing evidence of multiple ways in which they also exhibit common topological properties. To reconcile these contrasting observations, we postulate the existence of a backbone of interactions underlying all ecological networks—a common substructure within every network comprised of species playing similar ecological roles—and a periphery of species whose idiosyncrasies help explain the differences between networks. To test this conjecture, we introduce a new approach to investigate the structural similarity of 411 food webs from multiple environments and biomes. We first find significant differences in the way species in different ecosystems interact with each other. Despite these differences, we then show that there is compelling evidence of a common backbone of interactions underpinning all food webs. We expect that identifying a backbone of interactions will shed light on the rules driving assembly of different ecological communities. The structure of ecological networks can vary dramatically, yet there may be common features across networks from different ecosystem types. Here, Bramon Mora et al. use network alignment to demonstrate that there is a common backbone of interactions underlying empirical food webs.
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31
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Ma F, Lin P, Chen Q, Lu X, Zhang YE, Wu CI. Direct measurement of pervasive weak repression by microRNAs and their role at the network level. BMC Genomics 2018; 19:362. [PMID: 29764374 PMCID: PMC5952853 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-018-4757-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2018] [Accepted: 05/02/2018] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND A gene regulatory network (GRN) comprises many weak links that are often regulated by microRNAs. Since miRNAs rarely repress their target genes by more than 30%, doubts have been expressed about the biological relevance of such weak effects. These doubts raise the possibility of under-estimation as miRNA repression is usually estimated indirectly from equilibrium expression levels. RESULTS To measure miRNA repression directly, we inhibited transcript synthesis in Drosophila larvae and collected time-course data on mRNA abundance, the decline of which reflects transcript degradation. The rate of target degradation in the absence of miR310s, a moderately expressed miRNA family, was found to decrease by 5 to 15%. A conventional analysis that does not remove transcript synthesis yields an estimate of 6.5%, within the range of the new estimates. These data permit further examinations of the repression mechanisms by miRNAs including seed matching types, APA (alternative polyadenylation) sites, effects of other highly-expressed miRNAs and the length of 3'UTR. Our direct measurements suggest the latter two factors have a measurable effect on decay rate. CONCLUSION The direct measurement confirms pervasive weak repression by miRNAs, supporting the conclusions based on indirect assays. The confirmation suggests that this weak repression may indeed be miRNAs' main function. In this context, we discuss the recent proposal that weak repression is "cumulatively powerful" in stabilizing GRNs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fuqiang Ma
- Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Pei Lin
- School of Life Science, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, Guangdong, China
| | - Qingjian Chen
- School of Life Science, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, Guangdong, China
| | - Xuemei Lu
- Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
- Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China
| | - Yong E Zhang
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents & Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
| | - Chung-I Wu
- Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
- School of Life Science, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, Guangdong, China.
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
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32
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Cirtwill AR, Eklöf A. Feeding environment and other traits shape species’ roles in marine food webs. Ecol Lett 2018; 21:875-884. [DOI: 10.1111/ele.12955] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2018] [Revised: 02/18/2018] [Accepted: 03/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa R. Cirtwill
- Department of Physics; Chemistry and Biology (IFM) Linköping University; Linköping SE-581 83 Sweden
| | - Anna Eklöf
- Department of Physics; Chemistry and Biology (IFM) Linköping University; Linköping SE-581 83 Sweden
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33
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Haro MM, Silveira LCP, Wilby A. Stability lies in flowers: Plant diversification mediating shifts in arthropod food webs. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0193045. [PMID: 29451903 PMCID: PMC5815608 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2017] [Accepted: 02/02/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Arthropod community composition in agricultural landscapes is dependent on habitat characteristics, such as plant composition, landscape homogeneity and the presence of key resources, which are usually absent in monocultures. Manipulating agroecosystems through the insertion of in-field floral resources is a useful technique to reduce the deleterious effects of habitat simplification. Food web analysis can clarify how the community reacts to the presence of floral resources which favour ecosystem services such as biological control of pest species. Here, we reported quantitative and qualitative alterations in arthropod food web complexity due to the presence of floral resources from the Mexican marigold (Tagetes erecta L.) in a field scale lettuce community network. The presence of marigold flowers in the field successfully increased richness, body size, and the numerical and biomass abundance of natural enemies in the lettuce arthropod community, which affected the number of links, vulnerability, generality, omnivory rate and food chain length in the community, which are key factors for the stability of relationships between species. Our results reinforce the notion that diversification through insertion of floral resources may assist in preventing pest outbreaks in agroecosystems. This community approach to arthropod interactions in agricultural landscapes can be used in the future to predict the effect of different management practices in the food web to contribute with a more sustainable management of arthropod pest species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcelo Mendes Haro
- Laboratório de Entomologia, Estação Experimental de Itajaí, Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária e Extensão Rural de Santa Catarina (Epagri), Itajaí, Santa Catarina, Brazil
- Departamento de Entomologia, Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA), Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, Lancashire, United Kingdom
| | | | - Andrew Wilby
- Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, Lancashire, United Kingdom
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34
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Dougoud M, Vinckenbosch L, Rohr RP, Bersier LF, Mazza C. The feasibility of equilibria in large ecosystems: A primary but neglected concept in the complexity-stability debate. PLoS Comput Biol 2018; 14:e1005988. [PMID: 29420532 PMCID: PMC5821382 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2017] [Revised: 02/21/2018] [Accepted: 01/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The consensus that complexity begets stability in ecosystems was challenged in the seventies, a result recently extended to ecologically-inspired networks. The approaches assume the existence of a feasible equilibrium, i.e. with positive abundances. However, this key assumption has not been tested. We provide analytical results complemented by simulations which show that equilibrium feasibility vanishes in species rich systems. This result leaves us in the uncomfortable situation in which the existence of a feasible equilibrium assumed in local stability criteria is far from granted. We extend our analyses by changing interaction structure and intensity, and find that feasibility and stability is warranted irrespective of species richness with weak interactions. Interestingly, we find that the dynamical behaviour of ecologically inspired architectures is very different and richer than that of unstructured systems. Our results suggest that a general understanding of ecosystem dynamics requires focusing on the interplay between interaction strength and network architecture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michaël Dougoud
- Department of Mathematics, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Laura Vinckenbosch
- Department of Mathematics, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
- University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland - HES-SO, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland
| | - Rudolf P. Rohr
- Department of Biology, Unit of Ecology and Evolution, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Louis-Félix Bersier
- Department of Biology, Unit of Ecology and Evolution, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Christian Mazza
- Department of Mathematics, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
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35
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Frossard V, Rimet F, Perga ME. Causal networks reveal the dominance of bottom-up interactions in large, deep lakes. Ecol Modell 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2017.11.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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36
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Abstract
Contrary to a theoretical prediction, natural communities comprise many interacting species, thereby developing complex ecosystems. Earlier theoretical studies assumed that each component species within an ecological network has a simple life history, despite the fact that the interaction partners of many species, such as their predators and resources, change during the developmental stages. This poses an open question on the effect of life history complexity on the dynamics of communities. Here using a food web model, I showed that species with a stage-structured life cycle greatly changes the relationship between community complexity and persistence. Without stage-structured species, an increase in species diversity and interaction links decreases the community persistence, whereas in the presence of stage-structured species, community complexity can increase the community persistence. Therefore, life history complexity may be a key element of biodiversity that is self-maintaining.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akihiko Mougi
- Department of Biological Science, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, Shimane University, 1060 Nishikawatsu-cho, Matsue, 690-8504, Japan.
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37
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Cirtwill AR, Lagrue C, Poulin R, Stouffer DB. Host taxonomy constrains the properties of trophic transmission routes for parasites in lake food webs. Ecology 2017; 98:2401-2412. [PMID: 28609566 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.1927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2016] [Revised: 05/19/2017] [Accepted: 06/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Some parasites move from one host to another via trophic transmission, the consumption of the parasite (inside its current host) by its future host. Feeding links among free-living species can thus be understood as potential transmission routes for parasites. As these links have different dynamic and structural properties, they may also vary in their effectiveness as trophic transmission routes. That is, some links may be better than others in allowing parasites to complete their complex life cycles. However, not all links are accessible to parasites as most are restricted to a small number of host taxa. This restriction means that differences between links involving host and non-host taxa must be considered when assessing whether transmission routes for parasites have different food web properties than other links. Here we use four New Zealand lake food webs to test whether link properties (contribution of a link to the predator's diet, prey abundance, prey biomass, amount of biomass transferred, centrality, and asymmetry) affect trophic transmission of parasites. Critically, we do this using both models that neglect the taxonomy of free-living species and models that explicitly include information about which free-living species are members of suitable host taxa. Although the best-fit model excluding taxonomic information suggested that transmission routes have different properties than other feeding links, when including taxonomy, the best-fit model included only an intercept. This means that the taxonomy of free-living species is a key determinant of parasite transmission routes and that food-web properties of transmission routes are constrained by the properties of host taxa. In particular, many intermediate hosts (prey) attain high biomasses and are involved in highly central links while links connecting intermediate to definitive (predator) hosts tend to be dynamically weak.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa R Cirtwill
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand.,Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, 58183, Linköping, Sweden.,Department of Zoology, University of Otago, 340 Great King Street, PO Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand
| | - Clement Lagrue
- Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, 58183, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Robert Poulin
- Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, 58183, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Daniel B Stouffer
- Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand
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38
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Granados M, Altshuler I, Plourde S, Fussmann GF. Size and variation in individual growth rates among food web modules. Ecosphere 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Monica Granados
- Department of Biology; McGill University; Montreal Quebec Canada
| | - Ianina Altshuler
- Department of Biology; McGill University; Montreal Quebec Canada
| | - Stéphane Plourde
- Ocean and Environmental Science Branch; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Mont-Joli Quebec Canada
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39
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Abstract
A classic measure of ecological stability describes the tendency of a community to return to equilibrium after small perturbations. While many advances show how the network architecture of these communities severely constrains such tendencies, one of the most fundamental properties of network structure, i.e. degree heterogeneity-the variability of the number of links associated with each species, deserves further study. Here we show that the effects of degree heterogeneity on stability vary with different types of interspecific interactions. Degree heterogeneity consistently destabilizes ecological networks with both competitive and mutualistic interactions, while its effects on networks of predator-prey interactions such as food webs depend on prey contiguity, i.e. the extent to which the species consume an unbroken sequence of prey in community niche space. Increasing degree heterogeneity tends to stabilize food webs except those with the highest prey contiguity. These findings help explain why food webs are highly but not completely interval and, more broadly, deepen our understanding of the stability of complex ecological networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gang Yan
- School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, People's Republic of China
| | - Neo D Martinez
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Yang-Yu Liu
- Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA .,Center for Cancer Systems Biology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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40
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Vizzini S, Martínez-Crego B, Andolina C, Massa-Gallucci A, Connell SD, Gambi MC. Ocean acidification as a driver of community simplification via the collapse of higher-order and rise of lower-order consumers. Sci Rep 2017. [PMID: 28642608 PMCID: PMC5481442 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-03802-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Increasing oceanic uptake of CO2 is predicted to drive ecological change as both a resource (i.e. CO2 enrichment on primary producers) and stressor (i.e. lower pH on consumers). We use the natural ecological complexity of a CO2 vent (i.e. a seagrass system) to assess the potential validity of conceptual models developed from laboratory and mesocosm research. Our observations suggest that the stressor-effect of CO2 enrichment combined with its resource-effect drives simplified food web structure of lower trophic diversity and shorter length. The transfer of CO2 enrichment from plants to herbivores through consumption (apparent resource-effect) was not compensated by predation, because carnivores failed to contain herbivore outbreaks. Instead, these higher-order consumers collapsed (apparent stressor-effect on carnivores) suggesting limited trophic propagation to predator populations. The dominance of primary producers and their lower-order consumers along with the loss of carnivores reflects the duality of intensifying ocean acidification acting both as resource-effect (i.e. bottom-up control) and stressor-effect (i.e. top-down control) to simplify community and trophic structure and function. This shifting balance between the propagation of resource enrichment and its consumption across trophic levels provides new insights into how the trophic dynamics might stabilize against or propagate future environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Vizzini
- Department of Earth and Marine Sciences, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy. .,CoNISMa, Roma, Italy.
| | | | - C Andolina
- Department of Earth and Marine Sciences, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.,Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, DAIS, University Ca' Foscari, Venice, Italy
| | - A Massa-Gallucci
- Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Department of Integrative Marine Ecology, Villa Dohrn Benthic Ecology Center (Ischia), Naples, Italy
| | - S D Connell
- Southern Seas Ecology Laboratories, School of Biological Sciences & Environment Institute, University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - M C Gambi
- Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Department of Integrative Marine Ecology, Villa Dohrn Benthic Ecology Center (Ischia), Naples, Italy
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41
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Timpane-Padgham BL, Beechie T, Klinger T. A systematic review of ecological attributes that confer resilience to climate change in environmental restoration. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0173812. [PMID: 28301560 PMCID: PMC5354378 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 120] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2016] [Accepted: 02/26/2017] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecological restoration is widely practiced as a means of rehabilitating ecosystems and habitats that have been degraded or impaired through human use or other causes. Restoration practices now are confronted by climate change, which has the potential to influence long-term restoration outcomes. Concepts and attributes from the resilience literature can help improve restoration and monitoring efforts under changing climate conditions. We systematically examined the published literature on ecological resilience to identify biological, chemical, and physical attributes that confer resilience to climate change. We identified 45 attributes explicitly related to climate change and classified them as individual- (9), population- (6), community- (7), ecosystem- (7), or process-level attributes (16). Individual studies defined resilience as resistance to change or recovery from disturbance, and only a few studies explicitly included both concepts in their definition of resilience. We found that individual and population attributes generally are suited to species- or habitat-specific restoration actions and applicable at the population scale. Community attributes are better suited to habitat-specific restoration at the site scale, or system-wide restoration at the ecosystem scale. Ecosystem and process attributes vary considerably in their type and applicability. We summarize these relationships in a decision support table and provide three example applications to illustrate how these classifications can be used to prioritize climate change resilience attributes for specific restoration actions. We suggest that (1) including resilience as an explicit planning objective could increase the success of restoration projects, (2) considering the ecological context and focal scale of a restoration action is essential in choosing appropriate resilience attributes, and (3) certain ecological attributes, such as diversity and connectivity, are more commonly considered to confer resilience because they apply to a wide variety of species and ecosystems. We propose that identifying sources of ecological resilience is a critical step in restoring ecosystems in a changing climate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Britta L. Timpane-Padgham
- School for Marine and Environmental Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
- Ocean Associates Inc., under contract to Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Services, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Tim Beechie
- Fish Ecology Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Terrie Klinger
- School for Marine and Environmental Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America
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42
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Liman AS, Dalin P, Björkman C. Enhanced leaf nitrogen status stabilizes omnivore population density. Oecologia 2017; 183:57-65. [PMID: 27718064 PMCID: PMC5239808 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-016-3742-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2015] [Accepted: 09/27/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Plant traits can mediate the strength of interactions between omnivorous predators and their prey through density effects and changes in the omnivores' trophic behavior. In this study, we explored the established assumption that enhanced nutrient status in host plants strengthens the buffering effect of plant feeding for omnivorous predators, i.e., prevents rapid negative population growth during prey density decline and thereby increases and stabilizes omnivore population density. We analyzed 13 years of field data on population densities of a heteropteran omnivore on Salix cinerea stands, arranged along a measured leaf nitrogen gradient and found a 195 % increase in omnivore population density and a 63 % decrease in population variability with an increase in leaf nitrogen status from 26 to 40 mgN × g-1. We recreated the leaf nitrogen gradient in a greenhouse experiment and found, as expected, that increasing leaf nitrogen status enhanced omnivore performance but reduced per capita prey consumption. Feeding on high nitrogen status host plants can potentially decouple omnivore-prey population dynamics and allow omnivores to persist and function effectively at low prey densities to provide "background level" control of insect herbivores. This long-term effect is expected to outweigh the short-term effect on per capita prey consumption-resulting in a net increase in population predation rates with increasing leaf nitrogen status. Conservation biological control of insect pests that makes use of omnivore background control could, as a result, be manipulated via management of crop nitrogen status.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna-Sara Liman
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7044, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden.
| | - Peter Dalin
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7044, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Christer Björkman
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7044, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden
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43
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Wootton KL, Stouffer DB. Species' traits and food‐web complexity interactively affect a food web's response to press disturbance. Ecosphere 2016. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- K. L. Wootton
- Centre for Integrative EcologySchool of Biological SciencesUniversity of Canterbury Private Bag 4800 8140 Christchurch New Zealand
| | - D. B. Stouffer
- Centre for Integrative EcologySchool of Biological SciencesUniversity of Canterbury Private Bag 4800 8140 Christchurch New Zealand
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44
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Pires MM, Koch PL, Fariña RA, de Aguiar MAM, dos Reis SF, Guimarães PR. Pleistocene megafaunal interaction networks became more vulnerable after human arrival. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 282:rspb.2015.1367. [PMID: 26336175 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The end of the Pleistocene was marked by the extinction of almost all large land mammals worldwide except in Africa. Although the debate on Pleistocene extinctions has focused on the roles of climate change and humans, the impact of perturbations depends on properties of ecological communities, such as species composition and the organization of ecological interactions. Here, we combined palaeoecological and ecological data, food-web models and community stability analysis to investigate if differences between Pleistocene and modern mammalian assemblages help us understand why the megafauna died out in the Americas while persisting in Africa. We show Pleistocene and modern assemblages share similar network topology, but differences in richness and body size distributions made Pleistocene communities significantly more vulnerable to the effects of human arrival. The structural changes promoted by humans in Pleistocene networks would have increased the likelihood of unstable dynamics, which may favour extinction cascades in communities facing extrinsic perturbations. Our findings suggest that the basic aspects of the organization of ecological communities may have played an important role in major extinction events in the past. Knowledge of community-level properties and their consequences to dynamics may be critical to understand past and future extinctions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathias M Pires
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-090, Brazil
| | - Paul L Koch
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - Richard A Fariña
- Sección Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 11400, Uruguay
| | - Marcus A M de Aguiar
- Departamento de Física da Matéria Condensada, Instituto de Física 'Gleb Wataghin', 13083-862 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Sérgio F dos Reis
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 13083-862 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Paulo R Guimarães
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05508-090, Brazil
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45
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Bairey E, Kelsic ED, Kishony R. High-order species interactions shape ecosystem diversity. Nat Commun 2016; 7:12285. [PMID: 27481625 PMCID: PMC4974637 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 174] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2016] [Accepted: 06/20/2016] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Classical theory shows that large communities are destabilized by random interactions among species pairs, creating an upper bound on ecosystem diversity. However, species interactions often occur in high-order combinations, whereby the interaction between two species is modulated by one or more other species. Here, by simulating the dynamics of communities with random interactions, we find that the classical relationship between diversity and stability is inverted for high-order interactions. More specifically, while a community becomes more sensitive to pairwise interactions as its number of species increases, its sensitivity to three-way interactions remains unchanged, and its sensitivity to four-way interactions actually decreases. Therefore, while pairwise interactions lead to sensitivity to the addition of species, four-way interactions lead to sensitivity to species removal, and their combination creates both a lower and an upper bound on the number of species. These findings highlight the importance of high-order species interactions in determining the diversity of natural ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eyal Bairey
- Department of Physics, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel
| | - Eric D. Kelsic
- Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
| | - Roy Kishony
- Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
- Department of Biology and Department of Computer Science, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel
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46
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Iles AC, Novak M. Complexity Increases Predictability in Allometrically Constrained Food Webs. Am Nat 2016; 188:87-98. [DOI: 10.1086/686730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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47
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The efficacy of fisheries closure in rebuilding depleted stocks: Lessons from size-spectrum modeling. Ecol Modell 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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48
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Smith TC, Knapp RA, Briggs CJ. Declines and extinctions of mountain yellow‐legged frogs have small effects on benthic macroinvertebrate communities. Ecosphere 2016. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Thomas C. Smith
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine BiologyUniversity of California Santa Barbara California 93106 USA
| | - Roland A. Knapp
- Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research LaboratoryUniversity of California 1016 Mount Morrison Road Mammoth Lakes California 93546 USA
| | - Cheryl J. Briggs
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine BiologyUniversity of California Santa Barbara California 93106 USA
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49
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Gellner G, McCann KS, Hastings A. The duality of stability: towards a stochastic theory of species interactions. THEOR ECOL-NETH 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s12080-016-0303-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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50
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Gellner G, McCann KS. Consistent role of weak and strong interactions in high- and low-diversity trophic food webs. Nat Commun 2016; 7:11180. [PMID: 27068000 PMCID: PMC4832055 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2015] [Accepted: 02/26/2016] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The growing realization of a looming biodiversity crisis has inspired considerable progress in the quest to link biodiversity, structure and ecosystem function. Here we construct a method that bridges low- and high-diversity approaches to food web theory by elucidating the connection between the stability of the basic building block of food webs and the mean stability properties of large random food web networks. Applying this theoretical framework to common food web models reveals two key findings. First, in almost all cases, high-diversity food web models yield a stability relationship between weak and strong interactions that are compatible in every way to simple low-diversity models. And second, the models that generate the recently discovered phenomena of being purely stabilized by increasing interaction strength correspond to the biologically implausible assumption of perfect interaction strength symmetry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriel Gellner
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California Davis, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA
| | - Kevin S. McCann
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
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