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Siqueira T, Hawkins CP, Olden JD, Tonkin J, Comte L, Saito VS, Anderson TL, Barbosa GP, Bonada N, Bonecker CC, Cañedo-Argüelles M, Datry T, Flinn MB, Fortuño P, Gerrish GA, Haase P, Hill MJ, Hood JM, Huttunen KL, Jeffries MJ, Muotka T, O'Donnell DR, Paavola R, Paril P, Paterson MJ, Patrick CJ, Perbiche-Neves G, Rodrigues LC, Schneider SC, Straka M, Ruhi A. Understanding temporal variability across trophic levels and spatial scales in freshwater ecosystems. Ecology 2024; 105:e4219. [PMID: 38037301 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4219] [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: 12/21/2022] [Revised: 09/10/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023]
Abstract
A tenet of ecology is that temporal variability in ecological structure and processes tends to decrease with increasing spatial scales (from locales to regions) and levels of biological organization (from populations to communities). However, patterns in temporal variability across trophic levels and the mechanisms that produce them remain poorly understood. Here we analyzed the abundance time series of spatially structured communities (i.e., metacommunities) spanning basal resources to top predators from 355 freshwater sites across three continents. Specifically, we used a hierarchical partitioning method to disentangle the propagation of temporal variability in abundance across spatial scales and trophic levels. We then used structural equation modeling to determine if the strength and direction of relationships between temporal variability, synchrony, biodiversity, and environmental and spatial settings depended on trophic level and spatial scale. We found that temporal variability in abundance decreased from producers to tertiary consumers but did so mainly at the local scale. Species population synchrony within sites increased with trophic level, whereas synchrony among communities decreased. At the local scale, temporal variability in precipitation and species diversity were associated with population variability (linear partial coefficient, β = 0.23) and population synchrony (β = -0.39) similarly across trophic levels, respectively. At the regional scale, community synchrony was not related to climatic or spatial predictors, but the strength of relationships between metacommunity variability and community synchrony decreased systematically from top predators (β = 0.73) to secondary consumers (β = 0.54), to primary consumers (β = 0.30) to producers (β = 0). Our results suggest that mobile predators may often stabilize metacommunities by buffering variability that originates at the base of food webs. This finding illustrates that the trophic structure of metacommunities, which integrates variation in organismal body size and its correlates, should be considered when investigating ecological stability in natural systems. More broadly, our work advances the notion that temporal stability is an emergent property of ecosystems that may be threatened in complex ways by biodiversity loss and habitat fragmentation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tadeu Siqueira
- Institute of Biosciences, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Rio Claro, Brazil
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Charles P Hawkins
- Department of Watershed Sciences, National Aquatic Monitoring Center, and Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, USA
| | - Julian D Olden
- School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Jonathan Tonkin
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
- Te Pūnaha Matatini, Centre of Research Excellence in Complex Systems, Bioprotection Aotearoa, Centre of Research Excellence, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Lise Comte
- School of Biological Sciences, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois, USA
| | - Victor S Saito
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Federal University of São Carlos, São Carlos, Brazil
| | - Thomas L Anderson
- Department of Biological Sciences, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Illinois, USA
| | - Gedimar P Barbosa
- Institute of Biosciences, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Rio Claro, Brazil
| | - Núria Bonada
- FEHM-Lab (Freshwater Ecology, Hydrology and Management), Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Facultat de Biologia, Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Miguel Cañedo-Argüelles
- FEHM-Lab, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Thibault Datry
- INRAE, UR RiverLy, Centre Lyon-Grenoble Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne Cedex, France
| | - Michael B Flinn
- Hancock Biological Station, Biological Sciences, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky, USA
| | - Pau Fortuño
- FEHM-Lab (Freshwater Ecology, Hydrology and Management), Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Facultat de Biologia, Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Gretchen A Gerrish
- University of Wisconsin Madison, Center for Limnology-Trout Lake Station, Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, USA
| | - Peter Haase
- Department of River Ecology and Conservation, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt, Germany
- Faculty of Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Matthew J Hill
- Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
| | - James M Hood
- Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
- Translational Data Analytics Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
| | | | | | - Timo Muotka
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Daniel R O'Donnell
- Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, California, USA
| | - Riku Paavola
- Oulanka Research Station, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Petr Paril
- Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Michael J Paterson
- International Institute for Sustainable Development Experimental Lakes Area, Kenora, Ontario, Canada
| | | | | | | | | | - Michal Straka
- Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
- T.G. Masaryk Water Research Institute p.r.i., Brno Branch Office, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Albert Ruhi
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
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Greig HS, McHugh PA, Thompson RM, Warburton HJ, McIntosh AR. Habitat size influences community stability. Ecology 2021; 103:e03545. [PMID: 34614210 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2020] [Revised: 12/18/2020] [Accepted: 03/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Mechanisms linked to demographic, biogeographic, and food-web processes thought to underpin community stability could be affected by habitat size, but the effects of habitat size on community stability remain relatively unknown. We investigated whether those habitat-size-dependent properties influenced community instability and vulnerability to perturbations caused by disturbance. This is particularly important given that human exploitation is contracting ecosystems, and abiotic perturbations are becoming more severe and frequent. We used a perturbation experiment in which 10 streams, spanning three orders of magnitude in habitat size, were subjected to simulated bed movement akin to a major flood disturbance event. We measured the resistance, resilience, and variability of basal resources, and population and community-level responses across the stream habitat-size gradient immediately before, and at 0.5, 5, 10, 20, and 40 d post-disturbance. Resistance to disturbance consistently increased with stream size in all response variables. In contrast, resilience was significantly higher in smaller streams for some response variables. However, this higher resilience of small ecosystems was insufficient to compensate for their lower resistance, and communities of smaller streams were thus more variable over time than those of larger streams. Compensatory dynamics of populations, especially for predators, stabilized some aspects of communities, but these mechanisms were unrelated to habitat size. Together, our results provide compelling evidence for the links between habitat size and community stability, and should motivate ecologists and managers to consider how changes in the size of habitats will alter the vulnerability of ecosystems to perturbations caused by environmental disturbance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hamish S Greig
- School of Biology and Ecology, University of Maine, 5722 Deering Hall, Orono, Maine, 04469, USA
| | - Peter A McHugh
- California Department of Fish and Wildlife, 3637 Westwind Blvd, Santa Rosa, California, 95403, USA
| | - Ross M Thompson
- Centre for Applied Water Science and Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Kirinari Street, Bruce, Australian Capital Territory, 2617, Australia
| | - Helen J Warburton
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand
| | - Angus R McIntosh
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand
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