A meta-analysis of 126 published studies shows that exposure to artificial light at night induced strong responses for physiological measures, daily activity patterns and lifehistory traits.
Ecosystem engineering, the physical modification of the environment by organisms, is a common and often influential process whose significance to food web structure and dynamics is largely unknown. In the light of recent calls to expand food web studies to include non-trophic interactions, we explore how we might best integrate ecosystem engineering and food webs. We provide rationales justifying their integration and present a provisional framework identifying how ecosystem engineering can affect the nodes and links of food webs and overall organization; how trophic interactions with the engineer can affect the engineering; and how feedbacks between engineering and trophic interactions can affect food web structure and dynamics. We use a simple integrative food chain model to illustrate how feedbacks between the engineer and the food web can alter 1) engineering effects on food web dynamics, and 2) food web responses to extrinsic environmental perturbations. We identify four general challenges to integration that we argue can readily be met, and call for studies that can achieve this integration and help pave the way to a more general understanding of interaction webs in nature. Why integrate ecosystem engineering and food webs?The study of food webs has long been central to basic and applied understanding of stability and change in community organization and ecosystem functioning (Pimm 1982, Montoya et al. 2006, Mougi and Kondoh 2012. Recently, however, there have been calls to broaden the scope of food web studies to incorporate non-trophic interactions (Olff et al. 2009, Bascompte 2010, Kéfi et al. 2012; i.e. move toward the study of interaction webs that may better reflect reality (Ings et al. 2009). Ecosystem engineering, the physical modification of the environment by organisms (Jones et al. 1994(Jones et al. , 1997, may well be the most common and influential kind of non-trophic interaction. Research over the last two decades has revealed that ecosystem engineering is nearly as ubiquitous as trophic interactions (Wright and Jones 2006, Hastings et al. 2007, Jones and Gutierrez 2007, and has the potential to alter the architecture and dynamics of entire interaction webs (Olff et al. 2009, Golubski and Abrams 2011, Kéfi et al. 2012 and many ecosystem processes (Dangerfield et al. 1998, Gutiérrez and Jones 2006, Lavelle et al. 2006. Because species are affected by their physical environment, and because ecosystem engineers are food web members and modify the physical environment, their dual role is potentially one of the most important bridges between the trophic and non-trophic.Current food web models are parameterized on the basis of trophic connections. Any engineering effects on OIKOSAll species are affected by their physical environment. Because ecosystem engineering species modify the physical environment and belong to food webs, such species are potentially one of the most important bridges between the trophic and non-trophic. We examine how to integrate the so far, largely independent research area...
In most terrestrial ecosystems ants (Formicidae) as eusocial insects and spiders (Araneida) as solitary trappers and hunters are key predators. To study the role of predation by these generalist predators in a dry grassland, we manipulated densities of ants and spiders (natural and low density) in a two-factorial field experiment using fenced plots. The experiment revealed strong intraguild interactions between ants and spiders. Higher densities of ants negatively affected the abundance and biomass of web-building spiders. The density of Linyphiidae was threefold higher in plots without ant colonies. The abundance of Formica cunicularia workers was significantly higher in spider-removal plots. Also, population size of springtails (Collembola) was negatively affected by the presence of wandering spiders. Ants reduced the density of Lepidoptera larvae. In contrast, the abundance of coccids (Ortheziidae) was positively correlated with densities of ants. To gain a better understanding of the position of spiders, ants and other dominant invertebrate groups in the studied food web and important trophic links, we used a stable isotope analysis ((15)N and (13)C). Adult wandering spiders were more enriched in (15)N relative to (14)N than juveniles, indicating a shift to predatory prey groups. Juvenile wandering and web-building spiders showed delta(15)N ratios just one trophic level above those of Collembola, and they had similar delta(13)C values, indicating that Collembola are an important prey group for ground living spiders. The effects of spiders demonstrated in the field experiment support this result. We conclude that the food resource of spiders in our study system is largely based on the detrital food web and that their effects on herbivores are weak. The effects of ants are not clear-cut and include predation as well as mutualism with herbivores. Within this diverse predator guild, intraguild interactions are important structuring forces.
Artificial light has transformed the nighttime environment of large areas of the earth, with 88% of Europe and almost 50% of the United States experiencing light-polluted night skies [1]. The consequences for ecosystems range from exposure to high light intensities in the vicinity of direct light sources to the very widespread but lower lighting levels further away [2]. While it is known that species exhibit a range of physiological and behavioral responses to artificial nighttime lighting [e.g., 3-5], there is a need to gain a mechanistic understanding of whole ecological community impacts [6, 7], especially to different light intensities. Using a mesocosm field experiment with insect communities, we determined the impact of intensities of artificial light ranging from 0.1 to 100 lux on different trophic levels and interactions between species. Strikingly, we found the strongest impact at low levels of artificial lighting (0.1 to 5 lux), which led to a 1.8 times overall reduction in aphid densities. Mechanistically, artificial light at night increased the efficiency of parasitoid wasps in attacking aphids, with twice the parasitism rate under low light levels compared to unlit controls. However, at higher light levels, parasitoid wasps spent longer away from the aphid host plants, diminishing this increased efficiency. Therefore, aphids reached higher densities under increased light intensity as compared to low levels of lighting, where they were limited by higher parasitoid efficiency. Our study highlights the importance of different intensities of artificial light in driving the strength of species interactions and ecosystem functions.
Species extinctions are biased towards higher trophic levels, and primary extinctions are often followed by unexpected secondary extinctions. Currently, predictions on the vulnerability of ecological communities to extinction cascades are based on models that focus on bottom-up effects, which cannot capture the effects of extinctions at higher trophic levels. We show, in experimental insect communities, that harvesting of single carnivorous parasitoid species led to a significant increase in extinction rate of other parasitoid species, separated by four trophic links. Harvesting resulted in the release of prey from top-down control, leading to increased interspecific competition at the herbivore trophic level. This resulted in increased extinction rates of non-harvested parasitoid species when their host had become rare relative to other herbivores. The results demonstrate a mechanism for horizontal extinction cascades, and illustrate that altering the relationship between a predator and its prey can cause wide-ranging ripple effects through ecosystems, including unexpected extinctions.
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