Think ratio! A stoichiometric view on biodiversity–ecosystem functioning research

Hillebrand, Helmut; Cowles, Jane; Lewandowska, Aleksandra M.; Waal, Dedmer B. Van de; Plum, Christoph

doi:10.1016/j.baae.2014.06.003

Cited by 54 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…With respect to potential productivity, more species can coexist at higher levels of resource supply if the resources are provided in balanced ratios [13,15]. Stoichiometric imbalance in resource supply leads to exclusion of poor competitors for the most limiting resource [15,17], restricting the number of species that can coexist [18]. Indeed, more balanced resource supply ratios are expected to enhance the chance for coexistence by allowing trade-offs in resource acquisition to play out [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of balanced and imbalanced resource supply on biodiversity–functioning relationship across ecosystems

Lewandowska

Biermann

Borer

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of balanced and imbalanced resource supply on biodiversity–functioning relationship across ecosystems

Lewandowska

Biermann

Borer

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

Self Cite

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“…Compared to the imbalance between consumers at higher trophic levels and their heterotrophic prey (Fagan et al 2002), this mismatch seems to be more pronounced between primary consumers and their autotrophic resources, and even more so for detritivores than herbivores (Elser et al 2000;McGroddy et al 2004). Moreover, heterotroph body stoichiometry is more constrained than that of their autotrophic resources (Sterner and Elser 2002;Frost et al 2005;Hillebrand et al 2014; but see Persson et al 2010;McFeeters and Frost 2011). Therefore, heterotrophs-especially those feeding on autotrophic resources-need strategies to deal with differing resource nutritional quality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In ecological stoichiometry, special attention has been paid to carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) as central elements of animal development, activity, and growth (Fanin et al 2013), with a focus on carbon-toelement ratios and their impacts on individuals, populations, and communities (Sterner and Elser 2002;Hillebrand et al 2014;Ott et al 2014b). To fulfil their energetic demands, consumers depend on both resource quantity and quality (i.e., resource stoichiometry; Urabe and Sterner 1996;Sterner 1997;Frost et al 2005;Persson et al 2010;Ott et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decreasing Stoichiometric Resource Quality Drives Compensatory Feeding across Trophic Levels in Tropical Litter Invertebrate Communities

Eisenhauer

Barnes

Ott

et al. 2017

The American Naturalist

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Online enhancements: appendix. Dryad data: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n5h64.abstract: Living organisms are constrained by both resource quantity and quality. Ecological stoichiometry offers important insights into how the elemental composition of resources affects their consumers. If resource quality decreases, consumers can respond by shifting their body stoichiometry, avoiding low-quality resources, or up-regulating feeding rates to maintain the supply of required elements while excreting excess carbon (i.e., compensatory feeding). We analyzed multitrophic consumer body stoichiometry, biomass, and feeding rates along a resource-quality gradient in the litter of tropical forest and rubber and oil-palm plantations. Specifically, we calculated macroinvertebrate feeding rates based on consumer metabolic demand and assimilation efficiency. Using linear mixed effects models, we assessed resource-quality effects on macroinvertebrate detritivore and predator communities. We did not detect shifts in consumer body stoichiometry or decreases in consumer biomass in response to declining resource quality, as indicated by increasing carbon-to-nitrogen ratios. However, across trophic levels, we found a strong indication of decreasing resource quality leading to increased consumer feeding rates through altered assimilation efficiency and community body size structure. Our study reveals the influence of resource quality on multitrophic consumer feeding rates and suggests compensatory feeding to be more common across consumer trophic levels than was formerly known.

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“…However, both ES and MTE have rarely been applied in the context of BEF so far (for ES and BEF see [20] for a review), or in combination (for exceptions, see [7,[21][22][23][24]). For instance, Woods et al [24] demonstrated in a meta-analysis that organismal phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) concentrations across various organism groups were higher in cold versus warm environments, as the efficiency of RNA (requiring P) and proteins (requiring N) in biochemical reactions increases with temperature [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unifying ecological stoichiometry and metabolic theory to predict production and trophic transfer in a marine planktonic food web

Moorthi

Schmitt

Ryabov

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Two ecological frameworks have been used to explain multitrophic interactions, but rarely in combination: (i) ecological stoichiometry (ES), explaining consumption rates in response to consumers' demand and prey's nutrient content; and (ii) metabolic theory of ecology (MTE), proposing that temperature and body mass affect metabolic rates, growth and consumption rates. Here we combined both, ES and MTE to investigate interactive effects of phytoplankton prey stoichiometry, temperature and zooplankton consumer body mass on consumer grazing rates and production in a microcosm experiment. A simple model integrating parameters from both frameworks was used to predict interactive effects of temperature and nutrient conditions on consumer performance. Overall, model predictions reflected experimental patterns well: consumer grazing rates and production increased with temperature, as could be expected based on MTE. With decreasing algal food quality, grazing rates increased due to compensatory feeding, while consumer growth rates and final biovolume decreased. Nutrient effects on consumer biovolume increased with increasing temperature, while nutrient effects on grazing rates decreased. Highly interactive effects of temperature and nutrient supply indicate that combining the frameworks of ES and MTE is highly important to enhance our ability to predict ecosystem functioning in the context of global change.

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Think ratio! A stoichiometric view on biodiversity–ecosystem functioning research

Cited by 54 publications

References 73 publications

The influence of balanced and imbalanced resource supply on biodiversity–functioning relationship across ecosystems

The influence of balanced and imbalanced resource supply on biodiversity–functioning relationship across ecosystems

Decreasing Stoichiometric Resource Quality Drives Compensatory Feeding across Trophic Levels in Tropical Litter Invertebrate Communities

Unifying ecological stoichiometry and metabolic theory to predict production and trophic transfer in a marine planktonic food web

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