1
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Srednick G, Swearer SE. Effects of protection and temperature variation on temporal stability in a marine reserve network. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2024; 38:e14220. [PMID: 37937466 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.14220] [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] [Received: 12/21/2022] [Revised: 10/23/2023] [Accepted: 10/29/2023] [Indexed: 11/09/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the drivers of ecosystem stability has been a key focus of modern ecology as the impacts of the Anthropocene become more prevalent and extreme. Marine protected areas (MPAs) are tools used globally to promote biodiversity and mediate anthropogenic impacts. However, assessing the stability of natural ecosystems and responses to management actions is inherently challenging due to the complex dynamics of communities with many interdependent taxa. Using a 12-year time series of subtidal community structure in an MPA network in the Channel Islands (United States), we estimated species interaction strength (competition and predation), prey species synchrony, and temporal stability in trophic networks, as well as temporal variation in sea surface temperature to explore the causal drivers of temporal stability at community and metacommunity scales. At the community scale, only trophic networks in MPAs at Santa Rosa Island showed greater temporal stability than reference sites, likely driven by reduced prey synchrony. Across islands, competition was sometimes greater and predation always greater in MPAs compared with reference sites. Increases in interaction strength resulted in lower temporal stability of trophic networks. Although MPAs reduced prey synchrony at the metacommunity scale, reductions were insufficient to stabilize trophic networks. In contrast, temporal variation in sea surface temperature had strong positive direct effects on stability at the regional scale and indirect effects at the local scale through reductions in species interaction strength. Although MPAs can be effective management strategies for protecting certain species or locations, our findings for this MPA network suggest that temperature variation has a stronger influence on metacommunity temporal stability by mediating species interactions and promoting a mosaic of spatiotemporal variation in community structure of trophic networks. By capturing the full spectrum of environmental variation in network planning, MPAs will have the greatest capacity to promote ecosystem stability in response to climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Griffin Srednick
- National Centre for Coasts and Climate, School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Stephen E Swearer
- National Centre for Coasts and Climate, School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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2
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Liang M, Lamy T, Reuman DC, Wang S, Bell TW, Cavanaugh KC, Castorani MCN. A marine heatwave changes the stabilizing effects of biodiversity in kelp forests. Ecology 2024; 105:e4288. [PMID: 38522859 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Revised: 12/06/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/26/2024]
Abstract
Biodiversity can stabilize ecological communities through biological insurance, but climate and other environmental changes may disrupt this process via simultaneous ecosystem destabilization and biodiversity loss. While changes to diversity-stability relationships (DSRs) and the underlying mechanisms have been extensively explored in terrestrial plant communities, this topic remains largely unexplored in benthic marine ecosystems that comprise diverse assemblages of producers and consumers. By analyzing two decades of kelp forest biodiversity survey data, we discovered changes in diversity, stability, and their relationships at multiple scales (biological organizational levels, spatial scales, and functional groups) that were linked with the most severe marine heatwave ever documented in the North Pacific Ocean. Moreover, changes in the strength of DSRs during/after the heatwave were more apparent among functional groups than both biological organizational levels (population vs. ecosystem levels) and spatial scales (local vs. broad scales). Specifically, the strength of DSRs decreased for fishes, increased for mobile invertebrates and understory algae, and were unchanged for sessile invertebrates during/after the heatwave. Our findings suggest that biodiversity plays a key role in stabilizing marine ecosystems, but the resilience of DSRs to adverse climate impacts primarily depends on the functional identities of ecological communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maowei Liang
- Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
- Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, University of Minnesota, East Bethel, Minnesota, USA
| | - Thomas Lamy
- MARBEC, University of Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Daniel C Reuman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Center for Ecological Research, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA
| | - Shaopeng Wang
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Tom W Bell
- Department of Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Kyle C Cavanaugh
- Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Max C N Castorani
- Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
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3
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Strait JT, Grummer JA, Hoffman NF, Muhlfeld CC, Narum SR, Luikart G. Local environments, not invasive hybridization, influence cardiac performance of native trout under acute thermal stress. Evol Appl 2024; 17:e13663. [PMID: 38390377 PMCID: PMC10883762 DOI: 10.1111/eva.13663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2023] [Revised: 12/08/2023] [Accepted: 01/17/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Climate-induced expansion of invasive hybridization (breeding between invasive and native species) poses a significant threat to the persistence of many native species worldwide. In the northern U.S. Rocky Mountains, hybridization between native cutthroat trout and non-native rainbow trout has increased in recent decades due, in part, to climate-driven increases in water temperature. It has been postulated that invasive hybridization may enhance physiological tolerance to climate-induced thermal stress because laboratory studies indicate that rainbow trout have a higher thermal tolerance than cutthroat trout. Here, we assessed whether invasive hybridization improves cardiac performance response to acute water temperature stress of native wild trout populations. We collected trout from four streams with a wide range of non-native admixture among individuals and with different temperature and streamflow regimes in the upper Flathead River drainage, USA. We measured individual cardiac performance (maximum heart rate, "MaxHR", and temperature at arrhythmia, "ArrTemp") during laboratory trials with increasing water temperatures (10-28°C). Across the study populations, we observed substantial variation in cardiac performance of individual trout when exposed to thermal stress. Notably, we found significant differences in the cardiac response to thermal regimes among native cutthroat trout populations, suggesting the importance of genotype-by-environment interactions in shaping the physiological performance of native cutthroat trout. However, rainbow trout admixture had no significant effect on cardiac performance (MaxHR and ArrTemp) within any of the three populations. Our results indicate that invasive hybridization with a warmer-adapted species does not enhance the cardiac performance of native trout under warming conditions. Maintaining numerous populations across thermally and hydrologically diverse stream environments will be crucial for native trout to adapt and persist in a warming climate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey T Strait
- Flathead Lake Biological Station, Wildlife Biology Program University of Montana Polson Montana USA
| | - Jared A Grummer
- Flathead Lake Biological Station, Wildlife Biology Program University of Montana Polson Montana USA
| | | | - Clint C Muhlfeld
- U.S. Geological Survey, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center West Glacier Montana USA
| | - Shawn R Narum
- Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Hagerman Idaho USA
| | - Gordon Luikart
- Flathead Lake Biological Station, Wildlife Biology Program University of Montana Polson Montana USA
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4
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Maureaud AA, Palacios-Abrantes J, Kitchel Z, Mannocci L, Pinsky ML, Fredston A, Beukhof E, Forrest DL, Frelat R, Palomares MLD, Pecuchet L, Thorson JT, van Denderen PD, Mérigot B. FISHGLOB_data: an integrated dataset of fish biodiversity sampled with scientific bottom-trawl surveys. Sci Data 2024; 11:24. [PMID: 38177193 PMCID: PMC10766603 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-023-02866-w] [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: 01/16/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Scientific bottom-trawl surveys are ecological observation programs conducted along continental shelves and slopes of seas and oceans that sample marine communities associated with the seafloor. These surveys report taxa occurrence, abundance and/or weight in space and time, and contribute to fisheries management as well as population and biodiversity research. Bottom-trawl surveys are conducted all over the world and represent a unique opportunity to understand ocean biogeography, macroecology, and global change. However, combining these data together for cross-ecosystem analyses remains challenging. Here, we present an integrated dataset of 29 publicly available bottom-trawl surveys conducted in national waters of 18 countries that are standardized and pre-processed, covering a total of 2,170 sampled fish taxa and 216,548 hauls collected from 1963 to 2021. We describe the processing steps to create the dataset, flags, and standardization methods that we developed to assist users in conducting spatio-temporal analyses with stable regional survey footprints. The aim of this dataset is to support research, marine conservation, and management in the context of global change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aurore A Maureaud
- Center for Biodiversity & Global Change, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
| | - Juliano Palacios-Abrantes
- Changing Ocean Research Unit, Institute for the Oceans & Fisheries, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Zoë Kitchel
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | - Laura Mannocci
- FRB-CESAB, Montpellier, France
- MARBEC, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, IFREMER, Sète, France
| | - Malin L Pinsky
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Alexa Fredston
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
- Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
| | - Esther Beukhof
- National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Daniel L Forrest
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
- Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Romain Frelat
- International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Maria L D Palomares
- Sea Around Us, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | | | - James T Thorson
- Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA), Seattle, WA, USA
| | - P Daniël van Denderen
- National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
- Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI, 02882, USA
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Fredston AL, Cheung WWL, Frölicher TL, Kitchel ZJ, Maureaud AA, Thorson JT, Auber A, Mérigot B, Palacios-Abrantes J, Palomares MLD, Pecuchet L, Shackell NL, Pinsky ML. Marine heatwaves are not a dominant driver of change in demersal fishes. Nature 2023; 621:324-329. [PMID: 37648851 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06449-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2023] [Indexed: 09/01/2023]
Abstract
Marine heatwaves have been linked to negative ecological effects in recent decades1,2. If marine heatwaves regularly induce community reorganization and biomass collapses in fishes, the consequences could be catastrophic for ecosystems, fisheries and human communities3,4. However, the extent to which marine heatwaves have negative impacts on fish biomass or community composition, or even whether their effects can be distinguished from natural and sampling variability, remains unclear. We investigated the effects of 248 sea-bottom heatwaves from 1993 to 2019 on marine fishes by analysing 82,322 hauls (samples) from long-term scientific surveys of continental shelf ecosystems in North America and Europe spanning the subtropics to the Arctic. Here we show that the effects of marine heatwaves on fish biomass were often minimal and could not be distinguished from natural and sampling variability. Furthermore, marine heatwaves were not consistently associated with tropicalization (gain of warm-affiliated species) or deborealization (loss of cold-affiliated species) in these ecosystems. Although steep declines in biomass occasionally occurred after marine heatwaves, these were the exception, not the rule. Against the highly variable backdrop of ocean ecosystems, marine heatwaves have not driven biomass change or community turnover in fish communities that support many of the world's largest and most productive fisheries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexa L Fredston
- Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
| | - William W L Cheung
- Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Thomas L Frölicher
- Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Zoë J Kitchel
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | - Aurore A Maureaud
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - James T Thorson
- Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Arnaud Auber
- Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la MER (Ifremer), Unité Halieutique Manche Mer du Nord, Laboratoire Ressources Halieutiques, Boulogne-sur-Mer, France
| | | | - Juliano Palacios-Abrantes
- Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Maria Lourdes D Palomares
- Sea Around Us, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | | | - Nancy L Shackell
- Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | - Malin L Pinsky
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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6
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Srednick G, Davis K, Edmunds PJ. Asynchrony in coral community structure contributes to reef-scale community stability. Sci Rep 2023; 13:2314. [PMID: 36759628 PMCID: PMC9911750 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-28482-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Many aspects of global ecosystem degradation are well known, but the ecological implications of variation in these effects over scales of kilometers and years have not been widely considered. On tropical coral reefs, kilometer-scale variation in environmental conditions promotes a spatial mosaic of coral communities in which spatial insurance effects could enhance community stability. To evaluate whether these effects are important on coral reefs, we explored variation over 2006-2019 in coral community structure and environmental conditions in Moorea, French Polynesia. We studied coral community structure at a single site with fringing, back reef, and fore reef habitats, and used this system to explore associations among community asynchrony, asynchrony of environmental conditions, and community stability. Coral community structure varied asynchronously among habitats, and variation among habitats in the daily range in seawater temperature suggested it could be a factor contributing to the variation in coral community structure. Wave forced seawater flow connected the habitats and facilitated larval exchange among them, but this effect differed in strength among years, and accentuated periodic connectivity among habitats at 1-7 year intervals. At this site, connected habitats harboring taxonomically similar coral assemblages and exhibiting asynchronous population dynamics can provide insurance against extirpation, and may promote community stability. If these effects apply at larger spatial scale, then among-habitat community asynchrony is likely to play an important role in determining reef-wide coral community resilience.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Srednick
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
| | - K Davis
- Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, USA
| | - P J Edmunds
- Department of Biology, California State University, 18111 Nordhoff Street, Northridge, CA, 91330-8303, USA
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7
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O'Connor RF, McMeans BC, Rooney N, Guzzo MM, Young JD, McCann KS. Species portfolio effects dominate seasonal zooplankton stabilization within a large temperate lake. Ecology 2023; 104:e3889. [PMID: 36208063 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 08/10/2022] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Portfolio effects (PEs) in ecology refer to the suite of phenomenon where the temporal variation of aggregate ecosystem properties (i.e., abundance) is lower than that of their ecosystem components. An example of this is where differential responses of species to environmental variation generate stability at higher levels of ecological organization (e.g., local community, metapopulation, metacommunity). Most of the research examining such PEs has focused on spatial or interannual variation of ecosystems; however, as global change continues to alter seasonality and ecosystem functioning, understanding the underlying food web structures that help maintain stability at multiple spatial and temporal scales is critical to managing ecological systems. Recent advances investigating diversity-stability relationships has led to the development of frameworks that incorporate a metacommunity perspective which allows for the partitioning of PEs across organizational scales (i.e., local community, metapopulation, cross-community, metacommunity) from local population dynamics (total). This partitioning yields insights into the mechanisms that generate observed PEs in nature. Here, we employed one of these recently developed frameworks on a temporally (1986-1999, 2008-2019) and spatially (five sampling stations, local communities) extensive data set of zooplankton abundance (e.g., density) within a large temperate lake to investigate how temporal (seasonal) and spatial (among site) PEs influence stability within the zooplankton metacommunity. We found that seasonal asynchrony of different zooplankton species within local communities and across communities generated the vast majority of stabilization, while spatial (i.e., metapopulation) dynamics were more synchronous and contributed little to overall system stability. Furthermore, significantly positive diversity-asynchrony relationships at the total, local- and cross-community scales were found as asynchrony was positively correlated with local Shannon diversity. Last, a comparison of PEs over the time periods, during which significant local and global changes (i.e., climate warming, invasive species) have occurred suggests that PEs may be eroding, as increasingly synchronous dynamics and declining diversity in recent years have led to a rise in metacommunity variability. We end by arguing for the critical importance of understanding seasonally driven stabilizing mechanisms as local and global changes threaten to fundamentally alter seasonal signals with potentially strong implications for the structures that lend stability to ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reilly F O'Connor
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.,School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Bailey C McMeans
- Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
| | - Neil Rooney
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
| | - Matthew M Guzzo
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
| | - Joelle D Young
- Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Kevin S McCann
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
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Hodapp D, Armonies W, Dannheim J, Downing JA, Filstrup CT, Hillebrand H. Individual species and site dynamics are the main drivers of spatial scaling of stability in aquatic communities. Front Ecol Evol 2023. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2023.864534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
IntroductionAny measure of ecological stability scales with the spatial and temporal extent of the data on which it is based. The magnitude of stabilization effects at increasing spatial scale is determined by the degree of synchrony between local and regional species populations.MethodsWe applied two recently developed approaches to quantify these stabilizing effects to time series records from three aquatic monitoring data sets differing in environmental context and organism type.Results and DiscussionWe found that the amount and general patterns of stabilization with increasing spatial scale only varied slightly across the investigated species groups and systems. In all three data sets, the relative contribution of stabilizing effects via asynchronous dynamics across space was higher than compensatory dynamics due to differences in biomass fluctuations across species and populations. When relating the stabilizing effects of individual species and sites to species and site-specific characteristics as well as community composition and aspects of spatial biomass distribution patterns, however, we found that the effects of single species and sites showed large differences and were highly context dependent, i.e., dominant species can but did not necessarily have highly stabilizing or destabilizing effects on overall community biomass. The sign and magnitude of individual contributions depended on community structure and the spatial distribution of biomass and species in space. Our study therefore provides new insights into the mechanistic understanding of ecological stability patterns across scales in natural species communities.
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9
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Srednick G, Cohen A, Diehl O, Tyler K, Swearer SE. Habitat attributes mediate herbivory and influence community development in algal metacommunities. Ecology 2023; 104:e3976. [PMID: 36691779 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Revised: 11/24/2022] [Accepted: 12/07/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the drivers and impacts of spatiotemporal variation in species abundance on community trajectories is key to understanding the factors contributing to ecosystem resilience. Temporal variation in species trajectories across patches can provide compensation for species loss and can influence successional patterns. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms that lead to patterns of species or spatial compensation and how those patterns may be mediated by consumer-resource relationships. Here we describe an experiment testing whether habitat attributes (e.g., structural complexity and spatial heterogeneity) mediate the effects of herbivory on tropical marine macroalgal communities by reducing accessibility and detectability, respectively, leading to variable trajectories among algal species at community (within patch) and metacommunity (i.e., among patch) scales. Reduced accessibility (greater habitat complexity) decreased the effects of herbivory (i.e., depressed consumption rate, increased algal species richness), and both accessibility and detectability (spatial heterogeneity) influenced algal community structure. Moreover, decreased accessibility at the community scale and a mosaic of accessibility at the metacommunity scale led to variation in community assembly. We suggest that habitat attributes can be important influencers of consumer-resource interactions on coral reefs, which in turn can increase species diversity, promote species succession, and enhance stability in algal metacommunities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Griffin Srednick
- National Centre for Coasts and Climate, School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
| | - Alyssa Cohen
- Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, California, USA
| | - Olivia Diehl
- Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, California, USA
| | - Kaela Tyler
- Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, California, USA
| | - Stephen E Swearer
- National Centre for Coasts and Climate, School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
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10
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Wang Y, Wang S, Zhao L, Liang C, Miao B, Zhang Q, Niu X, Ma W, Schmid B. Stability and asynchrony of local communities but less so diversity increase regional stability of Inner Mongolian grassland. eLife 2022; 11:74881. [PMID: 36206306 PMCID: PMC9545536 DOI: 10.7554/elife.74881] [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: 10/20/2021] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Extending knowledge on ecosystem stability to larger spatial scales is urgently needed because present local-scale studies are generally ineffective in guiding management and conservation decisions of an entire region with diverse plant communities. We investigated stability of plant productivity across spatial scales and hierarchical levels of organization and analyzed impacts of dominant species, species diversity, and climatic factors using a multisite survey of Inner Mongolian grassland. We found that regional stability across distant local communities was related to stability and asynchrony of local communities. Using only dominant instead of all-species dynamics explained regional stability almost equally well. The diversity of all or only dominant species had comparatively weak effects on stability and synchrony, whereas a lower mean and higher variation of precipitation destabilized regional and local communities by reducing population stability and synchronizing species dynamics. We demonstrate that, for semi-arid temperate grassland with highly uneven species abundances, the stability of regional communities is increased by stability and asynchrony of local communities and these are more affected by climate rather than species diversity. Reduced amounts and increased variation of precipitation in the future may compromise the sustainable provision of ecosystem services to human well-being in this region.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yonghui Wang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University
| | - Shaopeng Wang
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University
| | - Liqing Zhao
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University
| | - Cunzhu Liang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University
| | - Bailing Miao
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University
| | - Qing Zhang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University
| | - Xiaxia Niu
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University
| | - Wenhong Ma
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau & Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecology, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University
| | - Bernhard Schmid
- Department of Geography, Remote Sensing Laboratories, University of Zürich
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11
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Kolodzey S, Wing SR. Life history traits vary between geographically distinct populations in a protogynous hermaphrodite. Ecosphere 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Stina Kolodzey
- Department of Marine Science University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand
| | - Stephen R. Wing
- Department of Marine Science University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand
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12
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Colombano DD, Carlson SM, Hobbs JA, Ruhi A. Four decades of climatic fluctuations and fish recruitment stability across a marine-freshwater gradient. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2022; 28:5104-5120. [PMID: 35583053 PMCID: PMC9545339 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2021] [Revised: 04/13/2022] [Accepted: 05/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Investigating the effects of climatic variability on biological diversity, productivity, and stability is key to understanding possible futures for ecosystems under accelerating climate change. A critical question for estuarine ecosystems is, how does climatic variability influence juvenile recruitment of different fish species and life histories that use estuaries as nurseries? Here we examined spatiotemporal abundance trends and environmental responses of 18 fish species that frequently spend the juvenile stage rearing in the San Francisco Estuary, CA, USA. First, we constructed multivariate autoregressive state-space models using age-0 fish abundance, freshwater flow (flow), and sea surface temperature data (SST) collected over four decades. Next, we calculated coefficients of variation (CV) to assess portfolio effects (1) within and among species, life histories (anadromous, marine opportunist, or estuarine dependent), and the whole community; and (2) within and among regions of the estuary. We found that species abundances varied over space and time (increasing, decreasing, or dynamically stable); and in 83% of cases, in response to environmental conditions (wet/dry, cool/warm periods). Anadromous species responded strongly to flow in the upper estuary, marine opportunist species responded to flow and/or SST in the lower estuary, and estuarine dependent species had diverse responses across the estuary. Overall, the whole community when considered across the entire estuary had the lowest CV, and life histories and species provided strong biological insurance to the portfolio (2.4- to 3.5-fold increases in stability, respectively). Spatial insurance also increased stability, although to a lesser extent (up to 1.6-fold increases). Our study advances the notion that fish recruitment stability in estuaries is controlled by biocomplexity-life history diversity and spatiotemporal variation in the environment. However, intensified drought and marine heatwaves may increase the risk of multiple consecutive recruitment failures by synchronizing species dynamics and trajectories via Moran effects, potentially diminishing estuarine nursery function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Denise D. Colombano
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and ManagementUniversity of California BerkeleyBerkeleyCaliforniaUSA
| | - Stephanie M. Carlson
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and ManagementUniversity of California BerkeleyBerkeleyCaliforniaUSA
| | - James A. Hobbs
- Region 3 Bay‐Delta Stockton IEP OfficeCalifornia Department of Fish and WildlifeStocktonCaliforniaUSA
| | - Albert Ruhi
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and ManagementUniversity of California BerkeleyBerkeleyCaliforniaUSA
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13
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Roberts SM, Halpin PN, Clark JS. Jointly modeling marine species to inform the effects of environmental change on an ecological community in the Northwest Atlantic. Sci Rep 2022; 12:132. [PMID: 34997068 PMCID: PMC8742080 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-04110-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2021] [Accepted: 12/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Single species distribution models (SSDMs) are typically used to understand and predict the distribution and abundance of marine fish by fitting distribution models for each species independently to a combination of abiotic environmental variables. However, species abundances and distributions are influenced by abiotic environmental preferences as well as biotic dependencies such as interspecific competition and predation. When species interact, a joint species distribution model (JSDM) will allow for valid inference of environmental effects. We built a joint species distribution model of marine fish and invertebrates of the Northeast US Continental Shelf, providing evidence on species relationships with the environment as well as the likelihood of species to covary. Predictive performance is similar to SSDMs but the Bayesian joint modeling approach provides two main advantages over single species modeling: (1) the JSDM directly estimates the significance of environmental effects; and (2) predicted species richness accounts for species dependencies. An additional value of JSDMs is that the conditional prediction of species distributions can use not only the environmental associations of species, but also the presence and abundance of other species when forecasting future climatic associations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah M Roberts
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA.
| | - Patrick N Halpin
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
| | - James S Clark
- Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
- Department of Statistical Science, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA
- INRAE, 2 rue de la Papeterie, BP 76, 38402, Saint-Martin-d'Heres Cedex, France
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14
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Loreau M, Barbier M, Filotas E, Gravel D, Isbell F, Miller SJ, Montoya JM, Wang S, Aussenac R, Germain R, Thompson PL, Gonzalez A, Dee LE. Biodiversity as insurance: from concept to measurement and application. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2021; 96:2333-2354. [PMID: 34080283 PMCID: PMC8519139 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2020] [Revised: 05/25/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Biological insurance theory predicts that, in a variable environment, aggregate ecosystem properties will vary less in more diverse communities because declines in the performance or abundance of some species or phenotypes will be offset, at least partly, by smoother declines or increases in others. During the past two decades, ecology has accumulated strong evidence for the stabilising effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning. As biological insurance is reaching the stage of a mature theory, it is critical to revisit and clarify its conceptual foundations to guide future developments, applications and measurements. In this review, we first clarify the connections between the insurance and portfolio concepts that have been used in ecology and the economic concepts that inspired them. Doing so points to gaps and mismatches between ecology and economics that could be filled profitably by new theoretical developments and new management applications. Second, we discuss some fundamental issues in biological insurance theory that have remained unnoticed so far and that emerge from some of its recent applications. In particular, we draw a clear distinction between the two effects embedded in biological insurance theory, i.e. the effects of biodiversity on the mean and variability of ecosystem properties. This distinction allows explicit consideration of trade-offs between the mean and stability of ecosystem processes and services. We also review applications of biological insurance theory in ecosystem management. Finally, we provide a synthetic conceptual framework that unifies the various approaches across disciplines, and we suggest new ways in which biological insurance theory could be extended to address new issues in ecology and ecosystem management. Exciting future challenges include linking the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning and stability, incorporating multiple functions and feedbacks, developing new approaches to partition biodiversity effects across scales, extending biological insurance theory to complex interaction networks, and developing new applications to biodiversity and ecosystem management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michel Loreau
- Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS2 route du CNRSMoulis09200France
| | - Matthieu Barbier
- Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS2 route du CNRSMoulis09200France
| | - Elise Filotas
- Center for Forest ResearchUniversité du Québec (TELUQ)5800 Saint‐DenisMontrealQCH2S 3L5Canada
| | - Dominique Gravel
- Département de BiologieUniversité de Sherbrooke2500 Boulevard de l'UniversitéSherbrookeQCJ1K 2R1Canada
| | - Forest Isbell
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and BehaviorUniversity of Minnesota1479 Gortner AveSt. PaulMN55108U.S.A.
| | - Steve J. Miller
- Environmental Studies ProgramUniversity of Colorado, Boulder4001 Discovery DriveBoulderCO80303U.S.A.
| | - Jose M. Montoya
- Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station, CNRS2 route du CNRSMoulis09200France
| | - Shaopeng Wang
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of EducationPeking UniversityBeijing100871China
| | - Raphaël Aussenac
- Université Grenoble Alpes, INRAE, LESSEMSt‐Martin‐d'HèresF‐38402France
| | - Rachel Germain
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of ZoologyUniversity of British Columbia6270 University Blvd.VancouverBCV6T 1Z4Canada
| | - Patrick L. Thompson
- Biodiversity Research Centre and Department of ZoologyUniversity of British Columbia6270 University Blvd.VancouverBCV6T 1Z4Canada
| | - Andrew Gonzalez
- Department of BiologyMcGill University1205 Dr. Penfield AvenueMontrealQCH3A 1B1Canada
| | - Laura E. Dee
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Colorado, Boulder1900 Pleasant St.BoulderCO80303U.S.A.
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15
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Liang M, Liang C, Hautier Y, Wilcox KR, Wang S. Grazing-induced biodiversity loss impairs grassland ecosystem stability at multiple scales. Ecol Lett 2021; 24:2054-2064. [PMID: 34319652 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13826] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Revised: 05/11/2021] [Accepted: 05/19/2021] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Livestock grazing is a major driver shaping grassland biodiversity, functioning and stability. Whether grazing impacts on grassland ecosystems are scale-dependent remains unclear. Here, we conducted a sheep-grazing experiment in a temperate grassland to test grazing effects on the temporal stability of productivity across scales. We found that grazing increased species stability but substantially decreased local community stability due to reduced asynchronous dynamics among species within communities. The negative effect of grazing on local community stability propagated to reduce stability at larger spatial scales. By decreasing biodiversity both within and across communities, grazing reduced biological insurance effects and hence the upscaling of stability from species to communities and further to larger spatial scales. Our study provides the first evidence for the scale dependence of grazing effects on grassland stability through biodiversity. We suggest that ecosystem management should strive to maintain biodiversity across scales to achieve sustainability of grassland ecosystem functions and services.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maowei Liang
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resources Use of the Mongolian Plateau, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
| | - Cunzhu Liang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resources Use of the Mongolian Plateau, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
| | - Yann Hautier
- Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Kevin R Wilcox
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
| | - 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, Beijing, China
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16
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Arimitsu ML, Piatt JF, Hatch S, Suryan RM, Batten S, Bishop MA, Campbell RW, Coletti H, Cushing D, Gorman K, Hopcroft RR, Kuletz KJ, Marsteller C, McKinstry C, McGowan D, Moran J, Pegau S, Schaefer A, Schoen S, Straley J, von Biela VR. Heatwave-induced synchrony within forage fish portfolio disrupts energy flow to top pelagic predators. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2021; 27:1859-1878. [PMID: 33577102 PMCID: PMC8048560 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Revised: 01/26/2021] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
During the Pacific marine heatwave of 2014-2016, abundance and quality of several key forage fish species in the Gulf of Alaska were simultaneously reduced throughout the system. Capelin (Mallotus catervarius), sand lance (Ammodytes personatus), and herring (Clupea pallasii) populations were at historically low levels, and within this community abrupt declines in portfolio effects identify trophic instability at the onset of the heatwave. Although compensatory changes in age structure, size, growth or energy content of forage fish were observed to varying degrees among all these forage fish, none were able to fully mitigate adverse impacts of the heatwave, which likely included both top-down and bottom-up forcing. Notably, changes to the demographic structure of forage fish suggested size-selective removals typical of top-down regulation. At the same time, changes in zooplankton communities may have driven bottom-up regulation as copepod community structure shifted toward smaller, warm water species, and euphausiid biomass was reduced owing to the loss of cold-water species. Mediated by these impacts on the forage fish community, an unprecedented disruption of the normal pelagic food web was signaled by higher trophic level disruptions during 2015-2016, when seabirds, marine mammals, and groundfish experienced shifts in distribution, mass mortalities, and reproductive failures. Unlike decadal-scale variability underlying ecosystem regime shifts, the heatwave appeared to temporarily overwhelm the ability of the forage fish community to buffer against changes imposed by warm water anomalies, thereby eliminating any ecological advantages that may have accrued from having a suite of coexisting forage species with differing life-history compensations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - John F. Piatt
- U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Science CenterAnchorageAKUSA
| | - Scott Hatch
- Institute for Seabird Research and ConservationAnchorageAKUSA
| | | | | | | | | | - Heather Coletti
- Southwest Alaska Inventory and Monitoring NetworkNational Park ServiceFairbanksAKUSA
| | - Dan Cushing
- Pole Star Ecological Research LLCAnchorageAKUSA
| | - Kristen Gorman
- Prince William Sound Science CenterCordovaAKUSA
- College of Fisheries and Ocean SciencesUniversity of Alaska FairbanksFairbanksAKUSA
| | - Russell R. Hopcroft
- College of Fisheries and Ocean SciencesUniversity of Alaska FairbanksFairbanksAKUSA
| | - Kathy J. Kuletz
- Migratory Bird ManagementU.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceAnchorageAKUSA
| | | | | | | | - John Moran
- Institute for Seabird Research and ConservationAnchorageAKUSA
| | - Scott Pegau
- Prince William Sound Science CenterCordovaAKUSA
| | | | - Sarah Schoen
- U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Science CenterAnchorageAKUSA
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17
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Patch isolation and periodic environmental disturbances have idiosyncratic effects on local and regional population variabilities in meta-food chains. THEOR ECOL-NETH 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s12080-021-00510-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
AbstractWhile habitat loss is a known key driver of biodiversity decline, the impact of other landscape properties, such as patch isolation, is far less clear. When patch isolation is low, species may benefit from a broader range of foraging opportunities, but are at the same time adversely affected by higher predation pressure from mobile predators. Although previous approaches have successfully linked such effects to biodiversity, their impact on local and metapopulation dynamics has largely been ignored. Since population dynamics may also be affected by environmental disturbances that temporally change the degree of patch isolation, such as periodic changes in habitat availability, accurate assessment of its link with isolation is highly challenging. To analyze the effect of patch isolation on the population dynamics on different spatial scales, we simulate a three-species meta-food chain on complex networks of habitat patches and assess the average variability of local populations and metapopulations, as well as the level of synchronization among patches. To evaluate the impact of periodic environmental disturbances, we contrast simulations of static landscapes with simulations of dynamic landscapes in which 30 percent of the patches periodically become unavailable as habitat. We find that increasing mean patch isolation often leads to more asynchronous population dynamics, depending on the parameterization of the food chain. However, local population variability also increases due to indirect effects of increased dispersal mortality at high mean patch isolation, consequently destabilizing metapopulation dynamics and increasing extinction risk. In dynamic landscapes, periodic changes of patch availability on a timescale much slower than ecological interactions often fully synchronize the dynamics. Further, these changes not only increase the variability of local populations and metapopulations, but also mostly overrule the effects of mean patch isolation. This may explain the often small and inconclusive impact of mean patch isolation in natural ecosystems.
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18
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Stier AC, Olaf Shelton A, Samhouri JF, Feist BE, Levin PS. Fishing, environment, and the erosion of a population portfolio. Ecosphere 2020. [DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.3283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Adrian C. Stier
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology University of California Santa Barbara Santa Barbara California93101USA
- National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis 735 State Street Santa Barbara California93101USA
| | - Andrew Olaf Shelton
- Conservation Biology Division Northwest Fisheries Science Center National Marine Fisheries Service National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Seattle Washington98112USA
| | - Jameal F. Samhouri
- Conservation Biology Division Northwest Fisheries Science Center National Marine Fisheries Service National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Seattle Washington98112USA
| | - Blake E. Feist
- Conservation Biology Division Northwest Fisheries Science Center National Marine Fisheries Service National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Seattle Washington98112USA
| | - Phillip S. Levin
- School of Environmental and Forest Sciences University of Washington Box 355020 Seattle Washington98195USA
- The Nature Conservancy 74 Wall Street Seattle Washington USA
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19
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Barnes CL, Beaudreau AH, Dorn MW, Holsman KK, Mueter FJ. Development of a predation index to assess trophic stability in the Gulf of Alaska. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2020; 30:e02141. [PMID: 32400922 PMCID: PMC7583375 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2019] [Revised: 01/26/2020] [Accepted: 03/17/2020] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Predation can have substantial and long-term effects on the population dynamics of ecologically important prey. Diverse predator assemblages, however, may produce stabilizing (i.e., portfolio) effects on prey mortality when consumption varies asynchronously among predators. We calculated spatiotemporal variation in predation on a dominant forage species to quantify synchrony and portfolio effects in a food web context and better understand diversity-stability relationships in a large marine ecosystem that has undergone considerable changes in community composition. We selected Walleye Pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) as our case study because they support some of the largest, most valuable commercial fisheries in the world and serve as essential prey for an array of economically and culturally important species. Thus, there are sufficient data for Pollock with which to test ecological theories in an empirical setting. Spatially explicit predation indices accounted for annual variation in predator biomass, bioenergetics-based rations, and age-specific proportions of Pollock consumed by a suite of groundfishes in the Gulf of Alaska (1990-2015). We found that Arrowtooth Flounder (Atheresthes stomias) was, by far, the dominant Pollock predator (proportional consumption: 0.74 ± 0.14). We also found synchronous trends in consumption among predator species, indicating a lack of portfolio effects at the basin scale. This combination of a single dominant predator and synchronous consumption dynamics suggests strong top-down control over Pollock in the Gulf of Alaska, though the degree of synchrony was highly variable at all spatial scales. Whereas synchrony generally increased in the western subregion, consumption in the central Gulf of Alaska became less synchronous through time. This suggests diminished trophic stability in one area and increased stability in another, thereby emphasizing the importance of spatiotemporal heterogeneity in maintaining food web structure and function. Finally, total Pollock consumption was highly variable (ranging from 1.87 to 7.63 Tg) and often exceeded assessment-based estimates of productivity. We assert that using our holistic and empirically derived predation index as a modifier of assumed constant natural mortality would provide a practical method for incorporating ecological information into single-species stock assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheryl L. Barnes
- College of Fisheries and Ocean SciencesUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks17101 Point Lena Loop RoadJuneauAlaska99801USA
| | - Anne H. Beaudreau
- College of Fisheries and Ocean SciencesUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks17101 Point Lena Loop RoadJuneauAlaska99801USA
| | - Martin W. Dorn
- Status of Stocks and Multispecies Assessment ProgramAlaska Fisheries Science CenterNational Marine Fisheries ServiceNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration7600 Sand Point Way NE, Bldg 4SeattleWashington98115USA
| | - Kirstin K. Holsman
- Resource Ecology and Ecosystem Modeling ProgramAlaska Fisheries Science CenterNational Marine Fisheries ServiceNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration7600 Sand Point Way NE, Bldg 4SeattleWashington98115USA
| | - Franz J. Mueter
- College of Fisheries and Ocean SciencesUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks17101 Point Lena Loop RoadJuneauAlaska99801USA
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20
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Catano CP, Fristoe TS, LaManna JA, Myers JA. Local species diversity, β-diversity and climate influence the regional stability of bird biomass across North America. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20192520. [PMID: 32126951 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Biodiversity often stabilizes aggregate ecosystem properties (e.g. biomass) at small spatial scales. However, the importance of species diversity within communities and variation in species composition among communities (β-diversity) for stability at larger scales remains unclear. Using a continental-scale analysis of 1657 North American breeding-bird communities spanning 20-years and 35 ecoregions, we show local species diversity and β-diversity influence two components of regional stability: local stability (stability of bird biomass within sites) and spatial asynchrony (asynchronous fluctuations in biomass among sites). We found spatial asynchrony explained three times more variation in regional stability of bird biomass than did local stability. This result contrasts with studies at smaller spatial scales-typically plant metacommunities under 1 ha-that find local stability to be more important than spatial asynchrony. Moreover, spatial asynchrony of bird biomass increased with bird β-diversity and climate heterogeneity (temperature and precipitation), while local stability increased with species diversity. Our study reveals new insights into the scale-dependent processes regulating ecosystem stability, providing evidence that both local biodiversity loss and homogenization can destabilize ecosystem processes at biogeographic scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher P Catano
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO 63130, USA
| | - Trevor S Fristoe
- Ecology Group, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Joseph A LaManna
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO 63130, USA.,Department of Biological Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA
| | - Jonathan A Myers
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO 63130, USA
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21
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Terui A, Nishijima S. Spatial disturbance synchrony alters the association of food chain length and ecosystem size. Ecol Res 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/1440-1703.12056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Akira Terui
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior University of Minnesota St. Paul Minnesota
- Department of Biology University of North Carolina at Greensboro Greensboro North Carolina
| | - Shota Nishijima
- National Research Institute of Fisheries Science Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency Yokohama Japan
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22
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Freshwater C, Anderson SC, Holt KR, Huang A, Holt CA. Weakened portfolio effects constrain management effectiveness for population aggregates. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2019; 29:e01966. [PMID: 31257710 PMCID: PMC6900020 DOI: 10.1002/eap.1966] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2019] [Revised: 05/24/2019] [Accepted: 06/14/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Population diversity can reduce temporal variability in aggregate population abundances in a process known as the portfolio effect. Portfolio effects may weaken, however, due to greater synchrony among component populations. While weakened portfolio effects have been previously documented, the consequences of reduced stability on meeting conservation goals for population aggregates that are harvested (e.g., stock aggregates in fisheries) are rarely quantified. Here, we demonstrate how changes in variability within components, synchrony among components, and population productivity interact to influence the probability of achieving an array of management objectives for Fraser River sockeye salmon: a stock aggregate of high economic, ecological, and cultural value. We first present evidence that component variability and synchrony have increased over the last two decades, consistent with a weakening portfolio effect. We then parameterize a stochastic, closed-loop model that simulates the population dynamics of each stock, the fishery that harvests the stock aggregate, and the management framework used to establish mixed-stock exploitation rates. We find that while median aggregate abundance and catch through time were relatively insensitive to greater aggregate variability, catch stability and performance metrics associated with achieving management targets generally declined as component variability and synchrony increased. A notable exception we observed is that harvest control means that scale exploitation rates based on aggregate abundance may be more effective as synchrony increases. Reductions in productivity led to broad declines in performance, but also moderated the impacts of component variability and synchrony on the proportion of component stocks above management targets and catch stability. Our results suggest that even precautionary management strategies that account for declines in productivity may underestimate risk, particularly to socioeconomic objectives, if they fail to consider changes in aggregate variability. Adequately incorporating changes in portfolio effect strength may be particularly relevant when developing recovery strategies that are robust to climate change, which is likely to increase synchrony and component variability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cameron Freshwater
- Fisheries and Oceans CanadaPacific Biological Station3190 Hammond Bay RoadNanaimoBritish ColumbiaV9T 6N7Canada
| | - Sean C. Anderson
- Fisheries and Oceans CanadaPacific Biological Station3190 Hammond Bay RoadNanaimoBritish ColumbiaV9T 6N7Canada
| | - Kendra R. Holt
- Fisheries and Oceans CanadaInstitute of Ocean Sciences9860 West Saanich RoadSidneyBritish ColumbiaV8L 5T5Canada
| | - Ann‐Marie Huang
- Fisheries and Oceans CanadaPacific Biological Station3190 Hammond Bay RoadNanaimoBritish ColumbiaV9T 6N7Canada
| | - Carrie A. Holt
- Fisheries and Oceans CanadaPacific Biological Station3190 Hammond Bay RoadNanaimoBritish ColumbiaV9T 6N7Canada
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23
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Lamy T, Wang S, Renard D, Lafferty KD, Reed DC, Miller RJ. Species insurance trumps spatial insurance in stabilizing biomass of a marine macroalgal metacommunity. Ecology 2019; 100:e02719. [PMID: 31081945 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2018] [Revised: 12/20/2018] [Accepted: 03/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Because natural ecosystems are complex, it is difficult to predict how their variability scales across space and levels of organization. The species-insurance hypothesis predicts that asynchronous dynamics among species should reduce variability when biomass is aggregated either from local species populations to local multispecies communities, or from metapopulations to metacommunities. Similarly, the spatial-insurance hypothesis predicts that asynchronous spatial dynamics among either local populations or local communities should stabilize metapopulation biomass and metacommunity biomass, respectively. In combination, both species and spatial insurance reduce variation in metacommunity biomass over time, yet these insurances are rarely considered together in natural systems. We partitioned the extent that species insurance and spatial insurance reduced the annual variation in macroalgal biomass in a southern California kelp forest. We quantified variability and synchrony at two levels of organization (population and community) and two spatial scales (local plots and region) and quantified the strength of species and spatial insurance by comparing observed variability and synchrony in aggregate biomass to null models of independent species or spatial dynamics based on cyclic-shift permutation. Spatial insurance was weak, presumably because large-scale oceanographic processes in the study region led to high spatial synchrony at both population- and community-level biomass. Species insurance was stronger due to asynchronous dynamics among the metapopulations of a few common species. In particular, a regional decline in the dominant understory kelp species Pterygophora californica was compensated for by the rise of three subdominant species. These compensatory dynamics were associated with positive values of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, indicating that differential species tolerances to warmer temperature and nutrient-poor conditions may underlie species insurance in this system. Our results illustrate how species insurance can stabilize aggregate community properties in natural ecosystems where environmental conditions vary over broad spatial scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Lamy
- Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 93106, USA
| | - Shaopeng Wang
- Institute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Delphine Renard
- Bren School of Environmental Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 93106, USA
| | - Kevin D Lafferty
- Western Ecological Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey at Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 93106, USA
| | - Daniel C Reed
- Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 93106, USA
| | - Robert J Miller
- Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, 93106, USA
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