Horizontal and vertical diversity jointly shape food web stability against small and large perturbations

Qing-hua, Zhao; Brink, Paul J. Van den; Carpentier, Camille; Wang, Yingying X. G.; Rodríguez-Sánchez, Pablo; Xu, Chi; Vollbrecht, Silke; Gillissen, Frits; Vollebregt, Martijntje; Wang, Shaopeng; Laender, Frederik De

doi:10.1111/ele.13282

Cited by 48 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 89 publications

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“…Evidence is accruing that the manipulation of horizontal and vertical network diversity affects stability and ecosystem function (Srivastava & Bell 2009;Thibaut et al 2012;Fornoff et al 2019;Zhao et al 2019), but few studies have incorporated scale. Experiments have shown that the magnitude and stability of BEF is modified by changes in food web diversity and spatial scale (France & Duffy 2006;Staddon et al 2010;Limberger et al 2019).…”

Section: Empirical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling‐up biodiversity‐ecosystem functioning research

et al. 2020

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A rich body of knowledge links biodiversity to ecosystem functioning (BEF), but it is primarily focused on small scales. We review the current theory and identify six expectations for scale dependence in the BEF relationship: (1) a nonlinear change in the slope of the BEF relationship with spatial scale; (2) a scale‐dependent relationship between ecosystem stability and spatial extent; (3) coexistence within and among sites will result in a positive BEF relationship at larger scales; (4) temporal autocorrelation in environmental variability affects species turnover and thus the change in BEF slope with scale; (5) connectivity in metacommunities generates nonlinear BEF and stability relationships by affecting population synchrony at local and regional scales; (6) spatial scaling in food web structure and diversity will generate scale dependence in ecosystem functioning. We suggest directions for synthesis that combine approaches in metaecosystem and metacommunity ecology and integrate cross‐scale feedbacks. Tests of this theory may combine remote sensing with a generation of networked experiments that assess effects at multiple scales. We also show how anthropogenic land cover change may alter the scaling of the BEF relationship. New research on the role of scale in BEF will guide policy linking the goals of managing biodiversity and ecosystems.

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Section: Empirical Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling‐up biodiversity‐ecosystem functioning research

et al. 2020

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“…The effects of changes in decomposer diversity and abundance on decomposition found in the present study might also have channeled changes in community and food-web structure not captured by our biodiversity metrics. Changes in keystone species 25 , functional diversity 14,15 , vertical diversity 17,26 , or dominance patterns 62 might have shifted concomitantly to taxonomic diversity and abundance. Unfortunately, studies rarely reported these together with decomposition measurements.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These early experiments also focused on species richness as the sole biodiversity index, and manipulated it directly and randomly. However, environmental change will often elicit non-random changes in several facets of biodiversity 9–11 (community composition and population densities 12,13 , functional diversity 14–16 , trophic diversity 17,18 , or intra-specific diversity 19 ). The selective effects of environmental change emerge because different organisms differ in their response to environmental change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity mediates the effects of stressors but not nutrients on litter decomposition

Beaumelle

Laender

Eisenhauer

2020

Preprint

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12Understanding the consequences of ongoing biodiversity changes for ecosystems is a pressing challenge. Con-13 trolled biodiversity-ecosystem function experiments with random biodiversity loss scenarios have demonstrated 14 that more diverse communities usually provide higher levels of ecosystem functioning. However, it is not 15 clear if these results predict the ecosystem consequences of environmental changes that cause non-random 16 alterations in biodiversity and community composition. We synthesized 69 independent studies reporting 17 660 observations of the impacts of two pervasive drivers of global change (chemical stressors and nutrient 18 enrichment) on animal and microbial decomposer diversity and litter decomposition. Using meta-analysis and 19 structural equation modelling, we show that declines in decomposer diversity and abundance explain reduced 20 1 L. Beaumelle, F. De Laender, N. Eisenhauer BEF under global change litter decomposition in response to stressors but not to nutrients. While chemical stressors generally reduced 21 biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, detrimental effects of nutrients occurred only at high levels of nutrient 22 inputs. Thus, more intense environmental change does not always result in stronger responses, illustrating 23 the complexity of ecosystem consequences of biodiversity change. Overall, these findings provide strong 24 empirical evidence for significant real-world biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships when human 25 activities decrease biodiversity. This highlights that the consequences of biodiversity change for ecosystems 26 are nontrivial and depend on the kind of environmental change. 27 Introduction 28Human activities cause global environmental changes with important consequences for biodiversity and the 29 functioning of ecosystems. Understanding these consequences is crucial for better policy and conservation 30 strategies, which will ultimately promote human well-being too 1 . A key question is to what extent changes in 31 ecosystem functioning are mediated by changes in biodiversity. Extensive research has demonstrated that 32 biodiversity is needed for the stable provenance and enhancement of ecosystem processes and functions 2-4 . 33 However, this body of evidence is mostly based on experiments comparing ecosystem functioning in artificial 34 communities with varying number of species. Such experiments might not capture the complex ways by 35 which shifts in biodiversity induced by global change ultimately affect ecosystem functioning 5,6 . 36Early biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) experiments typically controlled for environmental gradients, 37 thus not accounting for the underlying drivers of biodiversity change 5,7,8 . These early experiments also 38 focused on species richness as the sole biodiversity index, and manipulated it directly and randomly. However, 39 environmental change will often elicit non-random changes in several facets of biodiversity 9-11 (community 40 composition and population densities 12,13 ,...

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“…growth rate) and subsequent biomass due to changes in water temperature and/or primary productivity (indication through Chl-a) [78]. However, it is noteworthy that life-history traits and subsequent ecology for individual species may depend on community composition and demography [6,79]. First, conditions become more favorable for some species and less favorable for others [1,80], thereby influencing a species' ecological relevance and ultimately altering the prey species available for top predators [27,28].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Top predator reveals the stability of prey community in the western subarctic Pacific

Lin

Chen

2020

PLoS ONE

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The stability of the ecosystems depends on the dynamics of the prey community, but changes in the composition and abundance of prey species are poorly understood, especially in open ocean ecosystems. We used neon flying squid Ommastrephes bartramii, an active top predator, as a biological sampler to investigate the dynamics of the prey community in the southwestern part of the Western Subarctic Gyre in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Squid were collected monthly from July to November 2016. There were no significant differences among months in stable isotopes (δ 13 C and δ 15 N) in the digestive gland, a fast turnover organ reflecting recent dietary information. Similar findings were obtained from analyses of isotopic niche width and fatty acid profiles. The potential influence of the environment (monthly mean sea surface temperature, SST, and chlorophyll-a, Chl-a) on the prey community was examined with SST and Chl-a both varying significantly among sampling months. We found little evidence for significant effects of SST and Chl-a on the isotopic values, nor on the fatty acid profiles except for 20:4n6 and 24:1n9. These lines of evidence indicate that the prey community in the southwestern part of the gyre remains stable, with little evidence for systematic changes at the community level. This study provides a novel understanding of the dynamics of the prey community and highlights the use of top predators to study the trophic dynamics of an oceanic system where a long-term scientific survey is unavailable.

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Horizontal and vertical diversity jointly shape food web stability against small and large perturbations

Cited by 48 publications

References 89 publications

Scaling‐up biodiversity‐ecosystem functioning research

Scaling‐up biodiversity‐ecosystem functioning research

Biodiversity mediates the effects of stressors but not nutrients on litter decomposition

Top predator reveals the stability of prey community in the western subarctic Pacific

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