1
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Dansereau G, Barros C, Poisot T. Spatially explicit predictions of food web structure from regional-level data. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230166. [PMID: 39034704 PMCID: PMC11293859 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0166] [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: 09/16/2023] [Revised: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Knowledge about how ecological networks vary across global scales is currently limited given the complexity of acquiring repeated spatial data for species interactions. Yet, recent developments in metawebs highlight efficient ways to first document possible interactions within regional species pools. Downscaling metawebs towards local network predictions is a promising approach to using the current data to investigate the variation of networks across space. However, issues remain in how to represent the spatial variability and uncertainty of species interactions, especially for large-scale food webs. Here, we present a probabilistic framework to downscale a metaweb based on the Canadian mammal metaweb and species occurrences from global databases. We investigated how our approach can be used to represent the variability of networks and communities between ecoregions in Canada. Species richness and interactions followed a similar latitudinal gradient across ecoregions but simultaneously identified contrasting diversity hotspots. Network motifs revealed additional areas of variation in network structure compared with species richness and number of links. Our method offers the potential to bring global predictions down to a more actionable local scale, and increases the diversity of ecological networks that can be projected in space. This article is part of the theme issue 'Connected interactions: enriching food web research by spatial and social interactions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriel Dansereau
- Département de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QuebecH2V 0B3, Canada
- Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, Montréal, QuebecH3A 1B1, Canada
| | - Ceres Barros
- Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British ColumbiaV6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Timothée Poisot
- Département de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QuebecH2V 0B3, Canada
- Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science, Montréal, QuebecH3A 1B1, Canada
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2
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Jordán F, Capelli G, Primicerio R, Hidas A, Fábián V, Patonai K, Bodini A. Spatial food webs in the Barents Sea: atlantification and the reorganization of the trophic structure. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230164. [PMID: 39034707 PMCID: PMC11293864 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2023] [Revised: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 05/30/2024] [Indexed: 07/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Climate change affects ecosystems at several levels: by altering the spatial distribution of individual species, by locally rewiring interspecific interactions, and by reorganizing trophic networks at larger scales. The dynamics of marine food webs are becoming more and more sensitive to spatial processes and connections in the seascape. As a case study, we study the atlantification of the Barents Sea: we compare spatio-temporal subsystems at three levels: the identity of key organisms, critically important interactions and the entire food web. Network analysis offers quantitative measurements, including centrality indices, trophic similarity indices, a topological measure of interaction asymmetry and network-level measures. We found that atlantification alters the identity of key species (boreal demersals becoming hubs), results in strongly asymmetric interactions (dominated by haddock), changes the dominant regulation regime (from bottom-up to wasp-waist control) and makes the food web less modular. Since the results of food web analysis may be quite sensitive to network construction, the aggregation of food web data was explicitly studied to increase the robustness of food web analysis. We found that an alternative, mathematical aggregation algorithm better preserves some network properties (e.g. density) of the original, unaggregated network than the biologically inspired aggregation into functional groups. This article is part of the theme issue 'Connected interactions: enriching food web research by spatial and social interactions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ferenc Jordán
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma43124, Italy
- KeyNode Research Ltd, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Greta Capelli
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma43124, Italy
- Faculty of Bioscience, Fisheries and Economy, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, TromsoN-9037, Norway
| | - Raul Primicerio
- Faculty of Bioscience, Fisheries and Economy, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, TromsoN-9037, Norway
| | - András Hidas
- KeyNode Research Ltd, Budapest, Hungary
- Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest1113, Hungary
- Doctoral School of Environmental Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest1053, Hungary
| | | | - Katalin Patonai
- Department of Biological Sciences, Université de Montréal, MontréalH2V 0B3, Canada
| | - Antonio Bodini
- Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma43124, Italy
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3
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Antunes AC, Berti E, Brose U, Hirt MR, Karger DN, O'Connor LMJ, Pollock LJ, Thuiller W, Gauzens B. Linking biodiversity, ecosystem function, and Nature's contributions to people: a macroecological energy flux perspective. Trends Ecol Evol 2024; 39:427-434. [PMID: 38310065 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2024.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Revised: 01/05/2024] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/05/2024]
Abstract
At macroecological scales, the provision of Nature's contributions to people (NCP) is mostly estimated with biophysical information, ignoring the ecological processes underlying them. This hinders our ability to properly quantify the impact of declining biodiversity and the provision of NCP. Here, we propose a framework that combines local-scale food web energy flux approaches and large-scale biodiversity models to evaluate ecosystem functions and flux-related NCP at extensive spatiotemporal scales. Importantly, this approach has the potential to upscale ecosystem functions, assess the vulnerability of flux-related NCP to the climate crisis, and support the development of multiscale mitigation policies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Carolina Antunes
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany; EcoNetLab, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstrasse 4, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Emilio Berti
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany; EcoNetLab, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstrasse 4, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ulrich Brose
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany; EcoNetLab, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstrasse 4, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Myriam R Hirt
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany; EcoNetLab, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstrasse 4, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Dirk N Karger
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research, 8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland
| | - Louise M J O'Connor
- University of Grenoble Alpes, University of Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LECA, F-38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Laura J Pollock
- Biology Department, McGill University, 1205 Docteur Penfield, Montréal, QC, H3A 1B1, Canada
| | - Wilfried Thuiller
- University of Grenoble Alpes, University of Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LECA, F-38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Benoit Gauzens
- Institute of Biodiversity, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany; EcoNetLab, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Puschstrasse 4, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
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4
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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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5
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Polazzo F, Hermann M, Crettaz-Minaglia M, Rico A. Impacts of extreme climatic events on trophic network complexity and multidimensional stability. Ecology 2023; 104:e3951. [PMID: 36484732 PMCID: PMC10078413 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3951] [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: 07/20/2022] [Revised: 09/27/2022] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Untangling the relationship between network complexity and ecological stability under climate change is an arduous challenge for theoretical and empirical ecology. Even more so, when considering extreme climatic events. Here, we studied the effects of extreme climatic events (heatwaves) on the complexity of realistic freshwater ecosystems using topological and quantitative trophic network metrics. Next, we linked changes in network complexity with the investigation of four stability components (temporal stability, resistance, resilience, and recovery) of community's functional, compositional, and energy flux stability. We found reduction in topological network complexity to be correlated with reduction of functional and compositional resistance. However, temperature-driven increase in link-weighted network complexity increased functional and energy flux recovery and resilience, but at the cost of increased compositional instability. Overall, we propose an overarching approach to elucidate the effects of climate change on multidimensional stability through the lens of network complexity, providing helpful insights for preserving ecosystems stability under climate change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Polazzo
- IMDEA Water Institute, Science and Technology Campus of the University of Alcalá, Madrid, Spain
| | - Markus Hermann
- Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Melina Crettaz-Minaglia
- IMDEA Water Institute, Science and Technology Campus of the University of Alcalá, Madrid, Spain
| | - Andreu Rico
- IMDEA Water Institute, Science and Technology Campus of the University of Alcalá, Madrid, Spain.,Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
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6
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Wu D, Xu C, Wang S, Zhang L, Kortsch S. Why are biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships so elusive? Trophic interactions may amplify ecosystem function variability. J Anim Ecol 2023; 92:367-376. [PMID: 36062409 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 08/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functions (BEFs) has attracted great interest. Studies on BEF have so far focused on the average trend of ecosystem function as species diversity increases. A tantalizing but rarely addressed question is why large variations in ecosystem functions are often observed across systems with similar species diversity, likely obscuring observed BEFs. Here we use a multi-trophic food web model in combination with empirical data to examine the relationships between species richness and the variation in ecosystem functions (VEFs) including biomass, metabolism, decomposition, and primary and secondary production. We then probe the mechanisms underlying these relationships, focusing on the role of trophic interactions. While our results reinforce the previously documented positive BEF relationships, we found that ecosystem functions exhibit significant variation within each level of species richness and the magnitude of this variation displays a hump-shaped relationship with species richness. Our analyses demonstrate that VEFs is reduced when consumer diversity increases through elevated nonlinearity in trophic interactions, and/or when the diversity of basal species such as producers and decomposers decreases. This explanation is supported by a 34-year empirical food web time series from the Gulf of Riga ecosystem. Our work suggests that biodiversity loss may not only result in ecosystem function decline, but also reduce the predictability of functions by generating greater function variability among ecosystems. It thus helps to reconcile the debate on the generality of positive BEF relationships and to disentangle the drivers of ecosystem stability. The role of trophic interactions and the variation in their strengths mediated by functional responses in shaping ecosystem function variation warrants further investigations and better incorporation into biodiversity-ecosystem functioning research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Wu
- School of Mathematical Science, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.,Key Laboratory of Watershed Geographic Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
| | - Chi Xu
- School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
| | - Shaopeng Wang
- Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Science, and Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of the Ministry of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Lai Zhang
- School of Mathematical Science, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China
| | - Susanne Kortsch
- Department of Agricultural Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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7
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Labuce A, Gorokhova E. A script-based workflow to calculate zooplankton community indicator for environmental status assessment in the Baltic Sea. ECOL INFORM 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2022.101965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
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8
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Korpinen S, Uusitalo L, Nordström MC, Dierking J, Tomczak MT, Haldin J, Opitz S, Bonsdorff E, Neuenfeldt S. Food web assessments in the Baltic Sea: Models bridging the gap between indicators and policy needs. AMBIO 2022; 51:1687-1697. [PMID: 35092571 PMCID: PMC9110573 DOI: 10.1007/s13280-021-01692-x] [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: 05/14/2021] [Revised: 10/22/2021] [Accepted: 12/13/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Ecosystem-based management requires understanding of food webs. Consequently, assessment of food web status is mandatory according to the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) for EU Member States. However, how to best monitor and assess food webs in practise has proven a challenging question. Here, we review and assess the current status of food web indicators and food web models, and discuss whether the models can help addressing current shortcomings of indicator-based food web assessments, using the Baltic Sea as an example region. We show that although the MSFD food web assessment was designed to use food web indicators alone, they are currently poorly fit for the purpose, because they lack interconnectivity of trophic guilds. We then argue that the multiple food web models published for this region have a high potential to provide additional coherence to the definition of good environmental status, the evaluation of uncertainties, and estimates for unsampled indicator values, but we also identify current limitations that stand in the way of more formal implementation of this approach. We close with a discussion of which current models have the best capacity for this purpose in the Baltic Sea, and of the way forward towards the combination of measurable indicators and modelling approaches in food web assessments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuli Korpinen
- Finnish Environment Institute, Latokartanonkaari 11, 00790 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Laura Uusitalo
- Finnish Environment Institute, Latokartanonkaari 11, 00790 Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Jan Dierking
- GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Duesternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany
| | | | - Jannica Haldin
- HELCOM Secretariat, Katajanokanlaituri 6B, 00160 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Silvia Opitz
- GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Duesternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany
| | | | - Stefan Neuenfeldt
- National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark (DTU Aqua), Kemitorvet, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
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9
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Garrison JA, Nordström MC, Albertsson J, Nascimento FJA. Temporal and spatial changes in benthic invertebrate trophic networks along a taxonomic richness gradient. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e8975. [PMID: 35784047 PMCID: PMC9168554 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8975] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2021] [Revised: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 05/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Species interactions underlie most ecosystem functions and are important for understanding ecosystem changes. Representing one type of species interaction, trophic networks were constructed from biodiversity monitoring data and known trophic links to assess how ecosystems have changed over time. The Baltic Sea is subject to many anthropogenic pressures, and low species diversity makes it an ideal candidate for determining how pressures change food webs. In this study, we used benthic monitoring data for 20 years (1980-1989 and 2010-2019) from the Swedish coast of the Baltic Sea and Skagerrak to investigate changes in benthic invertebrate trophic interactions. We constructed food webs and calculated fundamental food web metrics evaluating network horizontal and vertical diversity, as well as stability that were compared over space and time. Our results show that the west coast of Sweden (Skagerrak) suffered a reduction in benthic invertebrate biodiversity by 32% between the 1980s and 2010s, and that the number of links, generality of predators, and vulnerability of prey have been significantly reduced. The other basins (Bothnian Sea, Baltic Proper, and Bornholm Basin) do not show any significant changes in species richness or consistent significant trends in any food web metrics investigated, demonstrating resilience at a lower species diversity. The decreased complexity of the Skagerrak food webs indicates vulnerability to further perturbations and pressures should be limited as much as possible to ensure continued ecosystem functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julie A. Garrison
- Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant SciencesStockholm UniversityStockholmSweden
| | | | - Jan Albertsson
- Umeå Marine Sciences CentreUmeå UniversityHörneforsSweden
| | - Francisco J. A. Nascimento
- Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant SciencesStockholm UniversityStockholmSweden
- Baltic Sea CentreStockholm UniversityStockholmSweden
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10
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Funes M, Saravia LA, Cordone G, Iribarne OO, Galván DE. Network analysis suggests changes in food web stability produced by bottom trawl fishery in Patagonia. Sci Rep 2022; 12:10876. [PMID: 35760984 PMCID: PMC9237026 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-14363-y] [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: 12/31/2021] [Accepted: 06/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Demersal fisheries are one of the top anthropic stressors in marine environments. In the long term, some species are more vulnerable to fishery impacts than others, which can lead to permanent changes on the food web. The trophic relationships between predator and prey constitute the food web and it represents a network of the energy channels in an ecosystem. In turn, the network structure influences ecosystem diversity and stability. The first aim of this study was to describe for the first time the food web of the San Jorge Gulf (Patagonia Argentina) with high resolution, i.e. to the species level when information is available. The San Jorge Gulf was subject to intense fisheries thus our second aim is to analyse the food web structure with and without fishery to evaluate if the bottom-trawl industrial fishery altered the network structure and stability. We used several network metrics like: mean trophic level, omnivory, modularity and quasi-sign stability. We included these metrics because they are related to stability and can be evaluated using predator diets that can weight the links between predators and prey. The network presented 165 species organized in almost five trophic levels. The inclusion of a fishery node adds 69 new trophic links. All weighted and unweighted metrics showed differences between the two networks, reflecting a decrease in stability when fishery was included in the system. Thus, our results suggested a probable change of state of the system. The observed changes in species abundances since the fishery was established, could represent the state change predicted by network analysis. Our results suggests that changes in the stability of food webs can be used to evaluate the impacts of human activity on ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuela Funes
- Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC-CONICET), Rodriguez Peña 4046 Nivel 1, B7602GSD, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Leonardo A Saravia
- Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas del Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CADIC-CONICET), Bernardo Houssay 200, V9410CAB, Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. .,Instituto de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento, J.M. Gutierrez 1159 (1613), Los Polvorines, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Georgina Cordone
- Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CESIMAR-CONICET), Bv. Almirante Brown 2915, U9120ACV, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina
| | - Oscar O Iribarne
- Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC-CONICET), Rodriguez Peña 4046 Nivel 1, B7602GSD, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - David E Galván
- Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CESIMAR-CONICET), Bv. Almirante Brown 2915, U9120ACV, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina
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11
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Food web rewiring drives long-term compositional differences and late-disturbance interactions at the community level. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2117364119. [PMID: 35439049 PMCID: PMC9173581 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2117364119] [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] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Multiple anthropogenic disturbances affect the structure and functioning of communities. Recent evidence highlighted that, after pulse disturbance, the functioning a community performs may be recovered fast due to functional redundancy, whereas community multivariate composition needs a longer time. Yet, the mechanisms that drive the different community recovery times have not been quantified empirically. We use quantitative food-web analysis to assess the influence of species interactions on community recovery. We found species-interactions strength to be the main mechanism driving differences between structural and functional recovery. Additionally, we show that interactions between multiple disturbances appear in the long term only when both species-interaction strength and food-web architecture change significantly. Ecological communities are constantly exposed to multiple natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Multivariate composition (if recovered) has been found to need significantly more time to be regained after pulsed disturbance compared to univariate diversity metrics and functional endpoints. However, the mechanisms driving the different recovery times of communities to single and multiple disturbances remain unexplored. Here, we apply quantitative ecological network analyses to try to elucidate the mechanisms driving long-term community-composition dissimilarity and late-stage disturbance interactions at the community level. For this, we evaluate the effects of two pesticides, nutrient enrichment, and their interactions in outdoor mesocosms containing a complex freshwater community. We found changes in interactions strength to be strongly related to compositional changes and identified postdisturbance interaction-strength rewiring to be responsible for most of the observed compositional changes. Additionally, we found pesticide interactions to be significant in the long term only when both interaction strength and food-web architecture are reshaped by the disturbances. We suggest that quantitative network analysis has the potential to unveil ecological processes that prevent long-term community recovery.
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12
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Hernvann PY, Gascuel D, Kopp D, Robert M, Rivot E. EcoDiet: A hierarchical Bayesian model to combine stomach, biotracer, and literature data into diet matrix estimation. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2022; 32:e2521. [PMID: 34918402 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2521] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Although quantifying trophic interactions is a critical path to understanding and forecasting ecosystem functioning, fitting trophic models to field data remains challenging. It requires flexible statistical tools to combine different sources of information from the literature and fieldwork samples. We present EcoDiet, a hierarchical Bayesian modeling framework to simultaneously estimate food-web topology and diet composition of all consumers in the food web, by combining (1) a priori knowledge from the literature on both food-web topology and diet proportions; (2) stomach content analyses, with frequencies of prey occurrence used as the primary source of data to update the prior knowledge on the topological food-web structure; (3) and biotracers data through a mixing model (MM). Inferences are derived in a Bayesian probabilistic rationale that provides a formal way to incorporate prior information and quantifies uncertainty around both the topological structure of the food web and the dietary proportions. EcoDiet was implemented as an open-source R package, providing a user-friendly interface to execute the model, as well as examples and guidelines to familiarize with its use. We used simulated data to demonstrate the benefits of EcoDiet and how the framework can improve inferences on diet matrix by comparison with classical network MM. We applied EcoDiet to the Celtic Sea ecosystem, and showed how combining multiple data types within an integrated approach provides a more robust and holistic picture of the food-web topology and diet matrices than the literature or classical MM approach alone. EcoDiet has the potential to become a reference method for building diet matrices as a preliminary step of ecosystem modeling and to improve our understanding of prey-predator interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pierre-Yves Hernvann
- DECOD (Ecosystem Dynamics and Sustainability), Ifremer, INRAE, Institut Agro, Lorient, France
- DECOD (Ecosystem Dynamics and Sustainability), Institut Agro, Ifremer, INRAE, Rennes, France
- Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, USA
| | - Didier Gascuel
- DECOD (Ecosystem Dynamics and Sustainability), Institut Agro, Ifremer, INRAE, Rennes, France
| | - Dorothée Kopp
- DECOD (Ecosystem Dynamics and Sustainability), Ifremer, INRAE, Institut Agro, Lorient, France
| | - Marianne Robert
- DECOD (Ecosystem Dynamics and Sustainability), Ifremer, INRAE, Institut Agro, Lorient, France
| | - Etienne Rivot
- DECOD (Ecosystem Dynamics and Sustainability), Institut Agro, Ifremer, INRAE, Rennes, France
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López-López L, Genner MJ, Tarling GA, Saunders RA, O’Gorman EJ. Ecological Networks in the Scotia Sea: Structural Changes Across Latitude and Depth. Ecosystems 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s10021-021-00665-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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14
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Novotny A, Zamora-Terol S, Winder M. DNA metabarcoding reveals trophic niche diversity of micro and mesozooplankton species. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20210908. [PMID: 34130506 PMCID: PMC8206686 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0908] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Alternative pathways of energy transfer guarantee the functionality and productivity in marine food webs that experience strong seasonality. Nevertheless, the complexity of zooplankton interactions is rarely considered in trophic studies because of the lack of detailed information about feeding interactions in nature. In this study, we used DNA metabarcoding to highlight the diversity of trophic niches in a wide range of micro- and mesozooplankton, including ciliates, rotifers, cladocerans, copepods and their prey, by sequencing 16- and 18S rRNA genes. Our study demonstrates that the zooplankton trophic niche partitioning goes beyond both phylogeny and size and reinforces the importance of diversity in resource use for stabilizing food web efficiency by allowing for several different pathways of energy transfer. We further highlight that small, rarely studied zooplankton (rotifers and ciliates) fill an important role in the Baltic Sea pelagic primary production pathways and the potential of ciliates, rotifers and crustaceans in the utilization of filamentous and picocyanobacteria within the pelagic food web. The approach used in this study is a suitable entry point to ecosystem-wide food web modelling considering species-specific resource use of key consumers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Novotny
- Department of Ecology, Environment, and Plant Science, Stockholm University, Svante Arrhenius Väg 20A, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Sara Zamora-Terol
- Department of Ecology, Environment, and Plant Science, Stockholm University, Svante Arrhenius Väg 20A, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Monika Winder
- Department of Ecology, Environment, and Plant Science, Stockholm University, Svante Arrhenius Väg 20A, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
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