Consumers Control Diversity and Functioning of a Natural Marine Ecosystem

Altieri, Andrew H.; Trussell, Geoffrey C.; Ewanchuk, Patrick J.; Bernatchez, Geneviève

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005291

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…ing our previous work (e.g., Bruno et al 2006, Stachowicz et al 2008; but see Altieri et al 2009, Arenas et al 2009). In particular, small stress-tolerant species (cyanobacteria, diatoms) were reduced under more benign conditions where larger seaweeds flourished, which together resulted in increased biomass at the expense of algal cover, diversity, and evenness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…Rocky intertidal seaweed diversity is influenced at the local scale by a variety of factors, including abiotic stress (Seapy and Littler 1982), physical disturbance (Sousa 1979), herbivory (Hawkins and Hartnoll 1983, Nielsen 2003, Altieri et al 2009), nutrient availability Nielsen 2004, Kraufvelin et al 2010), and pollution (Littler and Murray 1975). Seaweed species richness is a unimodal function of each of these factors, with few exceptions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Additive effects of physical stress and herbivores on intertidal seaweed biodiversity

Williams

Jones

2013

Ecology

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Abstract. Patterns in rocky intertidal seaweed biodiversity influence the resilience and functioning of these important primary producer communities. In turn, seaweed biodiversity patterns are the result of many ecological factors. We determined the influences of thermal and desiccation stress, herbivory, and nutrients on seaweed biodiversity on a northern California rocky shoreline. In a fully crossed design at two tidal heights at wave-protected and exposed sites, we deployed screens to reduce stress, removed herbivores, and added nutrients for 18 months. The treatments reduced temperature, increased relative humidity, decreased herbivore abundances, and increased nitrogen in both seawater and seaweeds. Seaweed abundance and biodiversity (cover, biomass, species richness, diversity, evenness, and community composition) were influenced by tidal height, physical stress, and herbivores. Wave exposure affected all response variables except biomass and evenness. Stress and herbivores had independent additive effects on seaweed abundance and diversity. Physical stress did not make the community as a whole more susceptible to herbivores, and screens had overarching positive effects on seaweed biodiversity even though they also had positive effects on herbivore abundance. Nutrients had virtually no effect on seaweed biodiversity, and we observed no bottom-up effects of nutrient addition on herbivore density or biomass. Small green algae and diatoms were important contributors to overall algal cover and to changes in composition across treatments, but larger macroalgae dominated the species richness response. The striking absence of interactions between stress and herbivory highlights how seaweed communities can respond independently to important drivers of biodiversity. Thus, nonadditive, potentially synergistic effects do not necessarily complicate the understanding of how seaweed biodiversity responds to environmental change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Additive effects of physical stress and herbivores on intertidal seaweed biodiversity

Williams

Jones

2013

Ecology

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“…We did not test how invaders affect biodiversity of lower trophic levels because our literature search did not locate enough relevant primary studies. For example, only 1 study quantified impacts of invasive mobile consumers on biodiversity of plants (Altieri et al 2009) and none on sessile filter-feeders. Still, we expect that 'trophic downward' effects on biodiversity are also predictable (see Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of marine invaders on biodiversity depend on trophic position and functional similarity

Thomsen¹,

Byers²,

Schiel³

et al. 2014

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

136

112

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Impacts of marine invaders on local biodiversity have not been analyzed across invasive species and invaded habitats. We conducted a meta-analysis of 56 field experiments published in 29 papers that examined the effects of marine invaders on local species richness, diversity, and/or evenness. We show that invaders, across studies, typically have negative effects on biodiversity within a trophic level but positive effects on biodiversity of higher trophic levels. For example, both plants and sessile filter-feeders had positive effects on richness and diversity of mobile consumers. The contrasting negative and positive effects on similar versus higher trophic levels are potentially manifested through community-wide antagonism (competition and consumption) versus facilitation (habitat and food provisioning) interactions, respectively. These relation ships extended to functional interactions, as sessile invaders had negative effects on the biodiversity of sessile communities (intra-functional interactions) but positive effects on the biodiversity of mobile communities (inter-functional interactions). Our analyses highlight the importance of pairing attributes of the invader and the impacted organisms to obtain simple predictions of how the diversity of entire communities may respond to species invasions on local scales. We also note that our analysis did not require information on co-evolutionary history but that such data, coupled with long-term large-scale mensurative data, are needed to gain a comprehensive predictive insight into invasion impact.

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“…However, biomass accumulation measures the net balance of production and consumption and thus may be a poor measure of the rate of primary productivity when losses to consumers are high (Raffaelli & Hawkins 1999). The potential mismatch between consumer effects on producer biomass and productivity may be further compounded by shifts in producer species composition (Duffy 2003) and/or stimulated mass-specific rates of primary production resulting from compensatory responses to grazing (Carpenter 1986) and/or reduced density dependence (Altieri et al 2009). To our knowledge, however, no previous studies have quantified the effects of consumer species richness and composition on both primary producer biomass and productivity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer effects on ecosystem functioning in rock pools: roles of species richness and composition

Griffin¹,

Noël²,

Crowe³

et al. 2010

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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A key challenge in research linking biodiversity and ecosystem functioning is to incorporate the trophic interactions that characterise natural systems. There is a particular shortage of studies investigating consumer species richness and composition (identity) effects in the context of ecosystem development (or succession). We manipulated the richness and composition of an assemblage of molluscan grazers (Patella ulyssiponensis, Gibbula umbilicalis and Littorina littorea) added to rock pools denuded of existing biota. We created monocultures and all possible multispecies combinations in a substitutive design, and ran a field experiment for 13 mo. We used 2 separate nested analyses to isolate the roles of species richness, species composition nested within levels of species richness and the specific effect of the limpet P. ulyssiponensis, a putative key species. We found no evidence that the biomass or productivity of the developing macroalgal assemblage was affected by grazer richness or species composition nested within richness levels. Rather, the presence of P. ulyssiponensis, irrespective of the presence of other grazer species, acted to suppress mean values of these response variables. Biomass and productivity were not strongly related, showing that they provide unique information on ecosystem functioning in this system. Macroalgal species richness was also reduced by P. ulyssiponensis, and correlated positively with macroalgal biomass, indicating a link between these response variables. Macroalgal species composition was largely insensitive to either species richness or the presence of P. ulyssiponensis, but responded to particular combinations of species within levels of these factors. The key role of P. ulyssiponensis in determining ecosystem functioning is apparent from our results, but we note that consumer species richness may play an important role under more heterogeneous conditions.

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Consumers Control Diversity and Functioning of a Natural Marine Ecosystem

Cited by 29 publications

References 47 publications

Additive effects of physical stress and herbivores on intertidal seaweed biodiversity

Additive effects of physical stress and herbivores on intertidal seaweed biodiversity

Impacts of marine invaders on biodiversity depend on trophic position and functional similarity

Consumer effects on ecosystem functioning in rock pools: roles of species richness and composition

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