Combined effects of acidification and competition on the feeding preference of a freshwater macroinvertebrate, Asellus aquaticus (Crustacea:Isopoda): a laboratory experiment

Costantini, Maria Letizia; Mancinelli, Giorgio; Mandrone, Stefania; Rossi, Loreto

doi:10.1071/mf04272

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Correlations between predator and prey abundances were taken into account only when the difference between their δ 15 N values fell within 1–4‰ (Post, 2002; Fry, 2006), a predator‐prey link being assigned when consistent with the non‐zero output of the mixing model. As detritivores colonise fungal‐conditioned litter on the basis of its differing palatability (Rossi, 1985; Graça, Maltby & Calow, 1993; Costantini & Rossi, 1995; Costantini et al. , 2005), detritivore‐detritus links were determined for each taxon based on the proportion of litter bags colonised, the bags being considered as spatially separated resource patches with different fungal biomasses.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The combined effects of flood and river basin urbanisation and the observed difference in the recovery capacity of the two communities may be explained with reference to the assumptions of OFT and the MTE, which predict that decreased food availability and quality and increased metabolic costs due to disturbance can promote trophic generalism (e.g. Costantini et al, 2005) and intraguild predation (Hastings & Conrad, 1979;Křivan, 2000). Recently, the Diet Breadth Model (Beckerman, Petchey & Warren, 2006) and the Allometric Diet Breadth Model (Petchey et al, 2008), both of which are based on optimal foraging assumptions, have been used successfully to predict food-web complexity and food-web structure, respectively, while Thierry et al (2011) demonstrated that foraging-linked trait variation had significant effects on food-web topology.…”

Section: Food Webs and Stable Isotope Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of disturbance on an urban river food web

et al. 2012

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1. Natural and anthropogenic disturbances are influential factors in river ecosystems. Lowland rivers that cross urbanised areas experience direct disturbance due to urbanisation, affecting suitability for many vertebrate and invertebrate species and with important implications for ecosystem functioning and stability. In addition, lowland rivers are potentially subjected to major flood events, whose effects may be exacerbated by urbanisation in the river basin. A greater understanding of the combined effects of flood disturbance and urbanisation is needed if we are to preserve riverine ecosystems and improve management strategies. 2. We characterised macroinvertebrate, detritus-based food webs upstream and downstream of Rome (Italy) before a period of exceptional flooding and at intervals until 71 days following the final flood event. We studied community and food-web characteristics, combining carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis with macroinvertebrate population census data. 3. The flood altered the species assemblage at both upstream and downstream locations. The food webs shifted towards a more complex configuration, with increased trophic generalism, linkage density and mean chain length. However, the food web at the upstream location gradually recovered its pre-flood configuration, whereas at the downstream location, where flood effects were stronger, the food web showed little capacity for recovery within the time span of the study. The contrasting food-web responses can be explained with reference to differences in resource availability for detritivores and predators and in water turbidity, which in turn reflect an interaction between flood disturbance and river basin urbanisation. 4. The description of short-term variations in food-web properties may help to improve ecosystem monitoring and the management of freshwater bodies and can be used to assess short-term and long-term effects of disturbance. A better understanding of the negative effects of urban pressure on macroinvertebrate community stability should help to define appropriate measures for the conservation and restoration of urbanised river areas, especially given that extreme flood events are expected to increase due to climatic change

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Food Webs and Stable Isotope Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of disturbance on an urban river food web

et al. 2012

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“…Given the site-scale characterising our experiment, further experiments considering the potential variability of the observed top-down and bottom-up controls across different spatial scales [70] will allow to understand if the observed effect of predators and resources quality on P recycling by prey is consistent at broader geographical scales. In addition, the trophic interactions in such detritus-based systems have been shown to be sensitive to water pollution and acidification during laboratory experiments [26], [71], [72]. This posits the comprehension of top-down and bottom-up combined effect on P recycling in lotic systems as a key step to understand how perturbation of species interactions could rebound at ecosystem level [30], [73], [74], [75].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predators and Resources Influence Phosphorus Transfer along an Invertebrate Food Web through Changes in Prey Behaviour

2013

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Predators play a fundamental role in prey trophic behaviour, with indirect consequences for species coexistence and ecosystem functioning. Resource quality and availability also influence prey trophic behaviour, with potential effects on predator-prey dynamics. Although many studies have addressed these topics, little attention has been paid to the combined effects of predators and resources on prey species coexistence and nutrient transfer along food chains, especially in detritus-based systems. To determine the influence of predators and resource quality on the movement and P uptake of detritivores, we carried out a field experiment on the River Kelvin (Scotland) using 32P to test the hypothesis of reduced prey vagility among resource patches as a strategy to avoid predation. Thirty leaf sacks containing alder leaves and two detritivore prey populations (Asellus aquaticus and Lymnaea peregra) were placed in cages, half of them with two predator species (Dendrocoelum lacteum and Erpobdella octoculata) and the other half without predators. Five alder leaf bags, each individually inoculated with a different fungus strain to simulate a patchy habitat, were placed inside each leaf sack. One bag in each sack was labelled with 32P, in order to assess the proportion of detritivores using it as food and thus their movement among the five resource patches. Three replicates for each labelled fungus and each predation treatment (i.e. with and without predators) were left on the riverbed for 7 days. The presence of predators had negligible effects on the number of detritivores in the leaf bags, but it did reduce the proportion of 32P-labelled detritivores and their P uptake. The most strongly affected species was A. aquaticus, whose vagility, trophic overlap with L. peregra and P uptake were all reduced. The results confirm the importance of bottom-up and top-down forces acting simultaneously to regulate nutrient transfer along food chains in patchy habitats.

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“…Exactly how this works, however, often remains obscure. While some detritivore species seem to facilitate each other or interact synergistically (Hedde et al., 2010; Zimmer et al., 2005), others compete for high‐quality food sources (Costantini et al., 2005; Chang et al, 2016) or exert top‐down effects on one another through predation (Ewers et al., 2012). In all these cases, however, their interactions may depend on the quality of their detrital resources.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%