Ecological networks offer valuable insights into community structure,
key species identification, and ecosystem management. Understanding how
these networks respond to global change stressors is of increasing
interest, especially along geographical gradients. This review
summarizes potential stressor responses in marine food webs from the
Southwest Atlantic to the Antarctic (45 - 78°S), encompassing areas such
as San Jorge Gulf, Beagle Channel, Burdwood Bank, Scotia Sea, Potter
Cove, and the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. The objectives are: 1) to
describe the structure of marine food webs along this latitudinal axis
using a network approach; 2) to identify predominant global
change-related stressors affecting each ecosystem; and 3) to summarize
observed food web changes and hypothesize on stressor impacts. The
effects of stressors were primarily reviewed at the species level.
Alternative hypotheses for each study area were formulated considering:
a) main stressors; b) impacted parameters; c) node-level species
properties; and d) network-level food web properties. Global warming
emerges as the most common stressor among the studied areas across the
latitudinal gradient, except in the Beagle Channel and Burdwood Bank,
where alien species introduction and fisheries are more influential. We
offer a series of alternative hypotheses on how warming may affect the
food webs. This review emphasizes the benefits of using a network
approach to understand and predict stressor effects in Southern
Hemisphere marine ecosystems. This approach provides a holistic
understanding of ecosystems, which enhances our ability to identify key
species and their interactions, offering insights for ecosystem
management and conservation in the face of global change stressors.
