Ecological Networks in a Changing Climate

Woodward, Guy; Benstead, Jonathan P.; Beveridge, Oliver S.; Blanchard, Julia L.; Brey, Thomas; Brown, Lee E.; Cross, Wyatt F.; Friberg, Nikolai; Ings, Thomas C.; Jacob, Ute; Jennings, Simon; Ledger, Mark E.; Milner, Alexander M.; Montoya, José M.; O’Gorman, Eoin J.; Olesen, Jens M.; Petchey, Owen L.; Pichler, Doris E.; Reuman, Daniel C.; Thompson, Murray S. A.; Veen, F. J. Frank van; Yvon‐Durocher, Gabriel

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-381363-3.00002-2

Cited by 145 publications

(157 citation statements)

References 293 publications

(379 reference statements)

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“…Increasing rates of biological change, such as those occurring due to climate change, might therefore alter food-web dynamics, favouring bottom-up forces, increasing biomass of basal groups such as plants, algae, and bacteria [57]. Food webs have already provided a conceptual framework for generating hypotheses on the effects of changing climate [58]. There is clear evidence from the empirical studies to date that the functional consequences of climate change can be predicted, modelled, and understood using food-web approaches [59,60].…”

Section: Linking Individuals To Food Webs To Ecosystem Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food webs: reconciling the structure and function of biodiversity

Thompson

Brose

Dunne

et al. 2012

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

572

500

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The global biodiversity crisis concerns not only unprecedented loss of species within communities, but also related consequences for ecosystem function. Community ecology focuses on patterns of species richness and community composition, whereas ecosystem ecology focuses on fluxes of energy and materials. Food webs provide a quantitative framework to combine these approaches and unify the study of biodiversity and ecosystem function. We summarise the progression of foodweb ecology and the challenges in using the food-web approach. We identify five areas of research where these advances can continue, and be applied to global challenges. Finally, we describe what data are needed in the next generation of food-web studies to reconcile the structure and function of biodiversity.Reconciling the study of biodiversity and ecosystem function We are experiencing two interrelated global ecological crises. One is in biodiversity, with unprecedented rates of species loss across all major ecosystems, combined with greatly accelerated biotic exchange between landmasses [1]. Consequently, spatial and temporal patterns of species occurrence are being fundamentally altered by extinction and invasion. The second crisis concerns the regulation of ecological processes and the ecosystem services they provide. Processes such as primary production and nutrient cycling have been severely altered by human activities [1].Our understanding of biodiversity comes largely from a sound theoretical and empirical basis provided by community ecology, including core concepts such as niche segregation [2] and Island Biogeography [3,4]. Early studies of individual species' habitat preferences and physiological tolerances have been complemented by studies of interspecific interactions from field surveys and experiments. Applications such as conservation management depend largely on mapping of community patterns and studies of habitat occupancy and preferences. More recently, habitat models have been applied, and the advent of simple and cheap molecular markers has allowed quantification of important community assembly (see Glossary) processes such as dispersal [5]. In community ecology the unit of study is the individual, population, or species, consistent with other sub-disciplines such as behavioural and population biology. Review GlossaryAssembly: the set of processes by which a food web is rebuilt after disturbance or the creation of new habitat. Bioenergetics: the flow and transformation of energy in and between living organisms and between living organisms and their environment. Cascade model: a food-web model which assumes hierarchical feeding along a single niche axis, with each species allocated a probability of feeding on taxa below it in the hierarchy. Community web: a food web intended to include all species and trophic links that occur within a defined ecological community. 'Species' in this sense might involve various degrees of aggregation or division of biological species. Compartmentalisation: the property by which one subset of sp...

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Section: Linking Individuals To Food Webs To Ecosystem Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food webs: reconciling the structure and function of biodiversity

Thompson

Brose

Dunne

et al. 2012

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

572

500

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…This incorporation is crucial to develop better understanding, ecological forecasting and conservation planning of natural ecosystems. Community-and ecosystem-level effects of climate change have received considerable attention over the last years, with a focus on how climate change affects species interactions and ecosystem processes [2,5,6]. At this level of biological organization, a fundamental question arises: Are there general patterns in the way species respond to climate change within and across ecosystems, or are responses merely idiosyncratic-i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel communities from climate change

Lurgi

López

Montoya

2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

178

187

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Climate change is generating novel communities composed of new combinations of species. These result from different degrees of species adaptations to changing biotic and abiotic conditions, and from differential range shifts of species. To determine whether the responses of organisms are determined by particular species traits and how species interactions and community dynamics are likely to be disrupted is a challenge. Here, we focus on two key traits: body size and ecological specialization. We present theoretical expectations and empirical evidence on how climate change affects these traits within communities. We then explore how these traits predispose species to shift or expand their distribution ranges, and associated changes on community size structure, food web organization and dynamics. We identify three major broad changes: (i) Shift in the distribution of body sizes towards smaller sizes, (ii) dominance of generalized interactions and the loss of specialized interactions, and (iii) changes in the balance of strong and weak interaction strengths in the short term. We finally identify two major uncertainties: (i) whether largebodied species tend to preferentially shift their ranges more than small-bodied ones, and (ii) how interaction strengths will change in the long term and in the case of newly interacting species.

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“…Therefore, temperature has a direct effect upon energy flux through an ecosystem and the population dynamics within it (Woodward et al 2010;Stevnbak et al 2012;Cahill et al 2013). Thermal responses are understood to be an underlying mechanism behind predator -prey dynamics (Berlow et al 2009;Rall et al 2010;Englund et al 2011), but predicting the outcome of such interactions under future abiotic scenarios is highly problematic (Le Quesne and Pinnegar 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of acute and chronic temperature changes on the functional responses of the dogfish Scyliorhinus canicula (Linnaeus, 1758) towards amphipod prey Echinogammarus marinus (Leach, 1815)

South

Dick

2017

Environ Biol Fish

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Predation is a strong driver of population dynamics and community structure and it is essential to reliably quantify and predict predation impacts on prey populations in a changing thermal landscape. Here, we used comparative functional response analyses to assess how predator-prey interactions between dogfish and invertebrate prey change under different warming scenarios. The Functional Response Type, attack rate, handling time and maximum feeding rate estimates were calculated for Scyliorhinus canicula preying upon Echinogammarus marinus under temperatures of 11.3°C and 16.3°C, which represent both the potential daily variation and predicted higher summer temperatures within Strangford Lough, N. Ireland. A two x two design of BPredator Acclimated^, BPrey Acclimated^, BBoth Acclimated^, and BBoth Unacclimated^was implemented to test functional responses to temperature rise. Attack rate was higher at 11.3°C than at 16.3°C, but handling time was lower and maximum feeding rates were higher at 16.3°C. Non-acclimated predators had similar maximum feeding rate towards nonacclimated and acclimated prey, whereas acclimated predators had significantly higher maximum feeding rates towards acclimated prey as compared to nonacclimated prey. Results suggests that the predator attack rate is decreased by increasing temperature but when both predator and prey are acclimated the shorter handling times considerably increase predator impact. The functional response of the fish changed from Type II to Type III with an increase in temperature, except when only the prey were acclimated. This change from population destabilizing Type II to more stabilizing Type III could confer protection to prey at low densities but increase the maximum feeding rate by Scyliorhinus canicula in the future. However, predator movement between different thermal regimes may maintain a Type II response, albeit with a lower maximum feeding rate. This has implications for the way the increasing population Scyliorhinus canicula in the Irish Sea may exploit valuable fisheries stocks in the future.

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Ecological Networks in a Changing Climate

Cited by 145 publications

References 293 publications

Food webs: reconciling the structure and function of biodiversity

Food webs: reconciling the structure and function of biodiversity

Novel communities from climate change

Effects of acute and chronic temperature changes on the functional responses of the dogfish Scyliorhinus canicula (Linnaeus, 1758) towards amphipod prey Echinogammarus marinus (Leach, 1815)

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