Predation risk, stoichiometric plasticity and ecosystem elemental cycling

Leroux, Shawn J.; Hawlena, Dror; Schmitz, Oswald J.

doi:10.1098/rspb.2012.1315

Cited by 48 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 61 publications

(163 reference statements)

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“…Empirical studies and theoretical work have shown that the balance between food quality and nutrient demands by predators can have large effects on predator's fitness (Jensen et al., 2012; Laspoumaderes, Beatriz Modenutti, Elser, & Balseiro, 2015), influence secondary production (Hall, 2009; Hall, Shurin, Diehl, & Nisbet, 2007), and nutrient dynamics (Leroux, Hawlena, & Schmitz, 2012; Leroux & Schmitz, 2015). The growth and reproduction of predators can be strongly affected by prey quality, with higher reproductive output in terrestrial predators when feeding in high protein (i.e., high N) prey (Barry & Wilder, 2013; Simpson et al., 2015; Wilder, 2011, 2013; Wilder & Eubanks, 2010; Wilder et al., 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caught in the web: Spider web architecture affects prey specialization and spider–prey stoichiometric relationships

Ludwig

Barbour

Guevara

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Quantitative approaches to predator–prey interactions are central to understanding the structure of food webs and their dynamics. Different predatory strategies may influence the occurrence and strength of trophic interactions likely affecting the rates and magnitudes of energy and nutrient transfer between trophic levels and stoichiometry of predator–prey interactions. Here, we used spider–prey interactions as a model system to investigate whether different spider web architectures—orb, tangle, and sheet‐tangle—affect the composition and diet breadth of spiders and whether these, in turn, influence stoichiometric relationships between spiders and their prey. Our results showed that web architecture partially affects the richness and composition of the prey captured by spiders. Tangle‐web spiders were specialists, capturing a restricted subset of the prey community (primarily Diptera), whereas orb and sheet‐tangle web spiders were generalists, capturing a broader range of prey types. We also observed elemental imbalances between spiders and their prey. In general, spiders had higher requirements for both nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) than those provided by their prey even after accounting for prey biomass. Larger P imbalances for tangle‐web spiders than for orb and sheet‐tangle web spiders suggest that trophic specialization may impose strong elemental constraints for these predators unless they display behavioral or physiological mechanisms to cope with nutrient limitation. Our findings suggest that integrating quantitative analysis of species interactions with elemental stoichiometry can help to better understand the occurrence of stoichiometric imbalances in predator–prey interactions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caught in the web: Spider web architecture affects prey specialization and spider–prey stoichiometric relationships

Ludwig

Barbour

Guevara

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Selection on the elemental composition of organisms may be direct, if habitats differ in the environmental availability of elemental resources (Jeyasingh & Weider, ; Jeyasingh, Weider & Sterner, ), or indirect in response to selection on traits that differ in elemental demands (Kay et al ., ; Bertram, Schade & Elser, ; Morehouse et al ., ; Goos et al ., ). In addition, intraspecific variation in organismal stoichiometry may be the result of phenotypic plasticity, challenging the assumption of strong consumer homoeostasis in elemental composition (Leroux, Hawlena & Schmitz, ). Analysis of intraspecific variation in consumer stoichiometry, its drivers, and the effects of selection on the elemental content of organisms will allow us to apply stoichiometric theory to predict evolutionary shifts in ecological functions of populations (Jeyasingh et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using replicated evolution in extremophile fish to understand diversification in elemental composition and nutrient excretion

et al. 2015

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Summary Ecological sources of selection are key drivers of evolutionary change in populations. Information on the ecological relevance of such evolutionary shifts is comparatively sparse and has received renewed interest. The framework of ecological stoichiometry is useful to investigate the reciprocal effects between ecology and evolution, because data on somatic stoichiometry of ancestral and descendent populations can be used to predict ecological functions, such as nutrient recycling, using mass balance‐based models. Here, we investigated whether divergent populations of livebearing fishes (genus Poecilia) have diverged in elemental composition. We tested whether adaptation to local environmental conditions is manifested in changes of somatic stoichiometry by measuring carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S) contents of wild‐caught individuals inhabiting sulphidic (extreme) and non‐sulphidic (benign) habitats. We also attempted to isolate the sources (i.e. genetic, environmental and their interaction) of intraspecific variation in stoichiometry. Finally, we tested whether shifts in somatic stoichiometry impinge on the rates at which key nutrients (N and P) are excreted. We found significant differentiation in somatic stoichiometry between fish from the two different habitat types in two of three river drainages, with fish from sulphidic habitats having lower C but higher P and S contents. Even though there was evidence for temporal variation and plasticity in elemental composition, differences between sulphidic and non‐sulphidic populations in P and S contents were maintained in laboratory populations over multiple generations. Finally, some sulphidic and non‐sulphidic population pairs differed in the rates of N and P excretions, although excretion rates were not related to somatic stoichiometry. Together, these results show that the elemental composition of organisms appears to have the characteristics typically observed in the evolution of biochemical, physiological and morphological traits. Studying taxa that have undergone replicated evolution illuminate some of the evolutionary mechanisms that drive variation in somatic elemental composition. Applying stoichiometric principles to such variation, as we have performed here, is a useful, yet underutilised approach to understand the ecological relevance of evolutionary change.

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“…Traits such as physiology and behavior, rather than PUC quality or stoichiometric imbalances may influence N dynamics among higher trophic levels (Leroux et al. , Tanaka and Mano ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of nitrogen transfer in stream food webs across continents

Norman

Whiles

Collins

et al. 2017

Ecology

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Studies of trophic-level material and energy transfers are central to ecology. The use of isotopic tracers has now made it possible to measure trophic transfer efficiencies of important nutrients and to better understand how these materials move through food webs. We analyzed data from thirteen N-ammonium tracer addition experiments to quantify N transfer from basal resources to animals in headwater streams with varying physical, chemical, and biological features. N transfer efficiencies from primary uptake compartments (PUCs; heterotrophic microorganisms and primary producers) to primary consumers was lower (mean 11.5%, range<1% to 43%) than N transfer efficiencies from primary consumers to predators (mean 80%, range 5% to >100%). Total N transferred (as a rate) was greater in streams with open compared to closed canopies and overall N transfer efficiency generally followed a similar pattern, although was not statistically significant. We used principal component analysis to condense a suite of site characteristics into two environmental components. Total N uptake rates among trophic levels were best predicted by the component that was correlated with latitude, DIN:SRP, GPP:ER, and percent canopy cover. N transfer efficiency did not respond consistently to environmental variables. Our results suggest that canopy cover influences N movement through stream food webs because light availability and primary production facilitate N transfer to higher trophic levels.

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Predation risk, stoichiometric plasticity and ecosystem elemental cycling

Cited by 48 publications

References 61 publications

Caught in the web: Spider web architecture affects prey specialization and spider–prey stoichiometric relationships

Caught in the web: Spider web architecture affects prey specialization and spider–prey stoichiometric relationships

Using replicated evolution in extremophile fish to understand diversification in elemental composition and nutrient excretion

Drivers of nitrogen transfer in stream food webs across continents

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