Food‐web structure varies along environmental gradients in a high‐latitude marine ecosystem

Kortsch, Susanne; Primicerio, Raul; Aschan, Michaela; Lind, Sigrid; Dolgov, Andrey V.; Planque, Benjamin

doi:10.1111/ecog.03443

Cited by 130 publications

(164 citation statements)

References 86 publications

(119 reference statements)

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“…The importance of the spatial residuals variable in the connectance composite descriptor model suggested the presence of other important spatial variables. Given that we used species distributions to design European vertebrate assemblages, biogeographical processes, such as barriers to species dispersal, island sizes, the presence of peninsulas or even other biotic factors, could lead to spatial similarities and/or dissimilarities in food web structure not explained solely by climate and primary productivity, but rather through compositional turnover (Kortsch et al, ). Further work is needed to include such processes under a spatial analysis framework of food web structural turnover (Poisot, Canard, Mouillot, Mouquet, & Gravel, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial analyses of multi‐trophic terrestrial vertebrate assemblages in Europe

Braga

Pollock

Barros

et al. 2019

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim Although much has been said on the spatial distribution of taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity of vertebrates, how this diversity interacts in food webs and how these interactions change across space are largely unknown. Here, we analysed the spatial distribution of tetrapod food webs and asked whether the variation in local food web structure is driven by random processes or by natural and anthropogenic factors. Location Europe. Time period Present. Major taxa studied Tetrapods. Methods We combined an expert‐based food web (1,140 species and 70,601 links) of all European tetrapods with their respective spatial distributions. We mapped 17 different food web metrics representing complexity, chain length, vertical diversity and diet strategy across Europe and tested whether their distribution reflects the spatial structure of species richness using a null model of food web structure. To avoid multicollinearity issues, we defined composite descriptors of food web structure that we related to a set of environmental layers summarizing both natural and anthropogenic influences and tested their relative importance in explaining the spatial distribution of European terrestrial vertebrate food webs. Results Of the 17 metrics, 10 showed a non‐random spatial distribution across Europe and could be summarized along two major axes of variation in food web structure. The first was related to species richness, mean trophic level and the proportion of intermediate species, whereas the second was related to the connectance and proximity of species within the web. Both descriptors varied with latitudinal gradient. The best descriptors of food web structure were mean annual temperature and seasonality (negatively correlated with the first axis), and human footprint (positively correlated with the second axis). Main conclusions We demonstrate the importance of climate and anthropogenic pressure in shaping the spatial structure of European tetrapod food webs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial analyses of multi‐trophic terrestrial vertebrate assemblages in Europe

Braga

Pollock

Barros

et al. 2019

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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“…Finally, we estimated the temporal β-diversity between pairs of food web snapshots -the temporal turnover in species composition β S and in trophic interactions due to species turnover β ST -using the betalink package in R (Poisot et al 2012, Kortsch et al 2018). Dissimilarity of species interactions depends on turnover in species composition and realized interactions (i.e.…”

Section: Metric and Formulamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…monitoring of species composition, abundances and gut contents. Kortsch et al (2015Kortsch et al ( , 2018 applied this technique to analyse the spatial variability of resolved, empirical marine food webs. the Benguela food web (Field et al 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the temporal variability of a food web using long‐term biomonitoring data

Olivier

Frelat²,

Bonsdorff

et al. 2019

Ecography

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Ecological communities are constantly being reshaped in the face of environmental change and anthropogenic pressures. Yet, how food webs change over time remains poorly understood. Food web science is characterized by a trade-off between complexity (in terms of the number of species and feeding links) and dynamics. Topological analysis can use complex, highly resolved empirical food web models to explore the architecture of feeding interactions but is limited to a static view, whereas ecosystem models can be dynamic but use highly aggregated food webs. Here, we explore the temporal dynamics of a highly resolved empirical food web over a time period of 18 years, using the German Bight fish and benthic epifauna community as our case study. We relied on long-term monitoring ecosystem surveys (from 1998 to 2015) to build a metaweb, i.e. the meta food web containing all species recorded over the time span of our study. We then combined time series of species abundances with topological network analysis to construct annual food web snapshots. We developed a new approach, 'node-weighted' food web metrics by including species abundances to represent the temporal dynamics of food web structure, focusing on generality and vulnerability. Our results suggest that structural food web properties change through time; however, binary food web structural properties may not be as temporally variable as the underlying changes in species composition. Further, the node-weighted metrics enabled us to detect that food web structure was influenced by changes in species composition during the first half of the time series and more strongly by changes in species dominance during the second half. Our results demonstrate how ecosystem surveys can be used to monitor temporal changes in food web structure, which are important ecosystem indicators for building marine management and conservation plans.

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“…A growing number of studies have shown that modifications of the natural fluctuation of ocean temperature have caused shifts in the geographical distribution of marine species and phenology from plankton to top predators (Beaugrand, Edwards, & Legendre, 2010;Cheung et al, 2009;Dulvy et al, 2008;Perry, 2005;Pinsky, Worm, Fogarty, Sarmiento, & Levin, 2013;Poloczanska et al, 2013). These biogeographical shifts have resulted in re-organization of marine | 1307 du PONTAVICE ET Al. species assemblages in various ecosystems across the global ocean (Beaugrand et al, 2014;Kortsch et al, 2019;Kortsch, Primicerio, Fossheim, Dolgov, & Aschan, 2015) and influenced the composition of fisheries catches (Cheung et al, 2013;Stuart-Smith, Edgar, Barrett, Kininmonth, & Bates, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change undermines the global functioning of marine food webs

Pontavice

Gascuel

Reygondeau

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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Sea water temperature affects all biological and ecological processes that ultimately impact ecosystem functioning. In this study, we examine the influence of temperature on global biomass transfers from marine secondary production to fish stocks. By combining fisheries catches in all coastal ocean areas and life‐history traits of exploited marine species, we provide global estimates of two trophic transfer parameters which determine biomass flows in coastal marine food web: the trophic transfer efficiency (TTE) and the biomass residence time (BRT) in the food web. We find that biomass transfers in tropical ecosystems are less efficient and faster than in areas with cooler waters. In contrast, biomass transfers through the food web became faster and more efficient between 1950 and 2010. Using simulated changes in sea water temperature from three Earth system models, we project that the mean TTE in coastal waters would decrease from 7.7% to 7.2% between 2010 and 2100 under the ‘no effective mitigation’ representative concentration pathway (RCP8.5), while BRT between trophic levels 2 and 4 is projected to decrease from 2.7 to 2.3 years on average. Beyond the global trends, we show that the TTEs and BRTs may vary substantially among ecosystem types and that the polar ecosystems may be the most impacted ecosystems. The detected and projected changes in mean TTE and BRT will undermine food web functioning. Our study provides quantitative understanding of temperature effects on trophodynamic of marine ecosystems under climate change.

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Food‐web structure varies along environmental gradients in a high‐latitude marine ecosystem

Cited by 130 publications

References 86 publications

Spatial analyses of multi‐trophic terrestrial vertebrate assemblages in Europe

Spatial analyses of multi‐trophic terrestrial vertebrate assemblages in Europe

Exploring the temporal variability of a food web using long‐term biomonitoring data

Climate change undermines the global functioning of marine food webs

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