Top predators affect the composition of naive protist communities, but only in their early-successional stage

Zander, Axel; Gravel, Dominique; Bersier, Louis‐Félix; Gray, Sarah M.

doi:10.1007/s00442-015-3476-2

Cited by 10 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 75 publications

(105 reference statements)

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“…However, bacterivore protozoans of similar phenotype, size, and of the same genus (e.g., Colpoda , Colpidium, Bodo ) as those in North America have established within the leaves of the introduced S. purpurea (Fragnière ; Zander et al. ). These characteristics enabled us to use functionally similar Swiss and North American protozoan communities in our experiment.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mismatch in microbial food webs: predators but not prey perform better in their local biotic and abiotic conditions

Parain

Gravel

Rohr

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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Understanding how trophic levels respond to changes in abiotic and biotic conditions is key for predicting how food webs will react to environmental perturbations. Different trophic levels may respond disproportionately to change, with lower levels more likely to react faster, as they typically consist of smaller‐bodied species with higher reproductive rates. This response could cause a mismatch between trophic levels, in which predators and prey will respond differently to changing abiotic or biotic conditions. This mismatch between trophic levels could result in altered top‐down and bottom‐up control and changes in interaction strength. To determine the possibility of a mismatch, we conducted a reciprocal‐transplant experiment involving Sarracenia purpurea food webs consisting of bacterial communities as prey and a subset of six morphologically similar protozoans as predators. We used a factorial design with four temperatures, four bacteria and protozoan biogeographic origins, replicated four times. This design allowed us to determine how predator and prey dynamics were altered by abiotic (temperature) conditions and biotic (predators paired with prey from either their local or non‐local biogeographic origin) conditions. We found that prey reached higher densities in warmer temperature regardless of their temperature of origin. Conversely, predators achieved higher densities in the temperature condition and with the prey from their origin. These results confirm that predators perform better in abiotic and biotic conditions of their origin while their prey do not. This mismatch between trophic levels may be especially significant under climate change, potentially disrupting ecosystem functioning by disproportionately affecting top‐down and bottom‐up control.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mismatch in microbial food webs: predators but not prey perform better in their local biotic and abiotic conditions

Parain

Gravel

Rohr

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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“…All samples from all sites remained cooled for the same amount of time (48 h) before initiating the experiments in order to slow biotic interactions and to avoid overheating during transportation. This procedure allowed all treatments to experience the same initial conditions and is a common practice used in Sarracenia research (Paisie et al , Zander et al ). Water from all five sites was filtered with a large, sterilized mesh size (2 mm) to remove the midge ( Metriocnemus knabi ) and flesh fly larvae ( Fletcherimyia fletcheri ), and detritus, in order to create homogenized nutrient availability in each of the five communities.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bacterial density was then standardized across sites by adjusting the volume of the communities with autoclaved deionized water, resulting in 1.09 × 10 7 bacteria per ml for each origin. This technique is standard for research conducted on the Sarracenia system, as it has been shown that the members of the food web are able to easily survive and maintain normal interactions, even when placed directly into deionized water (Kneitel and Miller , Hoekman , Gray , Kadowaki et al , Kneitel , Zander et al ). As a control, an equal volume of water from each of the five sites was also pooled to make the ‘mixed origin’ community.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature and trophic structure are driving microbial productivity along a biogeographical gradient

et al. 2015

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Temperature is known to influence ecosystem processes through its direct effect on biological rates such as respiration and nutrient cycling. These changes can then indirectly affect ecologically processes by altering trophic dynamics, the persistence of a species in a given environment, and, consequently, its distribution. However, it is not known if this direct effect of temperature on biological rates is singularly the most important factor for the functioning of ecosystems, or if trophic structure and the adaptation of a species to the local environment also play an essential role. Understanding the relative importance of these factors is crucial for predicting the impact that climate change will have on species and ecosystems. To achieve a more complete understanding of the impact of changing temperatures, it is necessary to integrate perspectives from biogeography, such as the influences of species distribution and local adaptation, with ecosystem and community ecology. By using the microbial community inhabiting the water-filled leaves of Sarracenia purpurea, we tested the importance of temperature, trophic structure, and local adaptation on ecosystem functioning. We accomplished this by collecting communities along a natural temperature gradient and maintaining these communities in a common garden, factorial experiment. To test for the importance of local adaptation and temperature, the origin of each community was crossed with the temperature from each site. Additionally, to test the importance of top-down trophic regulation for ecosystem functioning, the presence of the mosquito larvae top predator was manipulated. We found that temperature has a greater effect on ecosystem functioning than origin, and that top-down trophic regulation increased with temperature. Our results emphasize the synergistic effects of temperature and biotic interactions when predicting the consequences of global warming on ecosystem functioning. Accepted Ar ticle'This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.' AbstractTemperature is known to influence ecosystem processes through its direct effect on biological rates such as respiration and nutrient cycling. These changes can then indirectly affect ecologically processes by altering trophic dynamics, the persistence of a species in a given environment, and, consequently, its distribution. However, it is not known if this direct effect of temperature on biological rates is singularly the most important factor for the functioning of ecosystems, or if trophic structure and the adaptation of a species to the local environment also play an essential role. Understanding the relative importance of these factors is crucial for predicting the impact that climate change will have on species and ecosystems. To achieve a more complete understanding of the impact of changing temperatures, it is necessary to integrate perspectives from biogeography, such as the influences of species distribution and local adaptation, with ecosystem and community ecology. By using the...

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“…While Adlassnig et al. () detected Sarcophagidae larvae inside European populations of congeneric Sarracenia flava ; other researchers did not find arthropod inquilines living inside the pitchers during their studies (Gebühr et al., ; Zander, Bersier, & Gray, ; Zander et al., ). The presence of insect inquilines, which are able to leave the pitcher after metamorphosis, seems to be unresolved in the European populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…A final possible source of Dipteran DNA could be from the pollinators of S. purpurea (Jürgens, Sciligo, Witt, El‐Sayed, & Suckling, ), as it is possible that our metabarcoding approach detects Dipteran DNA which has been transferred during these visits. Although the particular inquiline and prey species differ between native and allochthonous populations, invertebrate functional groups may be important biological predictors of pitcher plant range, as inquiline successional stages are thought to be similar in pattern (Gray, Akob, Green, & Kostka, ; Zander et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA metabarcoding reveals changes in the contents of carnivorous plants along an elevation gradient

et al. 2018

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Resource variation along abiotic gradients influences subsequent trophic interactions and these effects can be transmitted through entire food webs. Interactions along abiotic gradients can provide clues as to how organisms will face changing environmental conditions, such as future range shifts. However, it is challenging to find replicated systems to study these effects. Phytotelmata, such as those found in carnivorous plants, are isolated aquatic communities and thus form a good model for the study of replicated food webs. Due to the degraded nature of the prey, molecular techniques provide a useful tool to study these communities. We studied the pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea L. in allochthonous populations along an elevational gradient in the Alps and Jura. We predicted that invertebrate richness in the contents of the pitcher plants would decrease with increasing elevation, reflecting harsher environmental conditions. Using metabarcoding of the COI gene, we sequenced the invertebrate contents of these pitcher plants. We assigned Molecular Operational Taxonomic Units at ordinal level as well as recovering species-level data. We found small but significant changes in community composition with elevation. These recovered sequences could belong to invertebrate prey, rotifer inquilines, pollinators and other animals possibly living inside the pitchers. However, we found no directional trend or site-based differences in MOTU richness with elevational gradient. Use of molecular techniques for dietary or contents analysis is a powerful way to examine numerous degraded samples, although factors such as DNA persistence and the relationship with species presence still have to be completely determined.

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Top predators affect the composition of naive protist communities, but only in their early-successional stage

Cited by 10 publications

References 75 publications

Mismatch in microbial food webs: predators but not prey perform better in their local biotic and abiotic conditions

Mismatch in microbial food webs: predators but not prey perform better in their local biotic and abiotic conditions

Temperature and trophic structure are driving microbial productivity along a biogeographical gradient

DNA metabarcoding reveals changes in the contents of carnivorous plants along an elevation gradient

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