Linking zooplankton communities to ecosystem functioning: toward an effect-trait framework

Hébert, Marie‐Pier; Beisner, Beatrix E.; Maranger, Roxane

doi:10.1093/plankt/fbw068

Cited by 118 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 80 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The lower functional β‐diversity found in the lakes associated with the dammed river and the fact that trait filtering occurs at a regional level indicates a loss of functional traits. This can lead to a decrease in secondary productivity and alterations in nutrient cycling, once zooplankton are responsible for cycling nutrients to phytoplankton's primary productivity (Hébert, Beisner, & Maranger, ). Thus, over time, alterations in the zooplankton community can lead to a change in the entire functioning of the ecosystem, which can reach huge proportions in basins subjected to a great number of cascading reservoirs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of dams decrease zooplankton functional β‐diversity in river‐associated lakes

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In river–floodplain systems, the construction of dams causes environmental changes in the natural dynamics of rivers and the associated wetlands, which can affect both the taxonomic and functional composition of communities, and, consequently, ecosystem functioning. We evaluated zooplankton taxonomic and functional β‐diversity in sets of lakes associated with a preserved and a dammed river in a Neotropical floodplain. We expected that both β‐diversity measures would be lower in lakes associated with a dammed river than in lakes associated with a preserved river. β‐Diversity was partitioned into turnover and nestedness components, through multiple‐site dissimilarity measures, and compared with expected null models. We expected that nestedness would be more important for both the β‐diversity measures in lakes associated with the dammed river, whereas species and trait turnover would be more important in lakes associated with the preserved river. Functional β‐diversity was higher among lakes of the preserved river than of the dammed river, while taxonomic β‐diversity was not different between the rivers. Contributions of turnover and nestedness components were similar in the preserved river, whereas that of nestedness was higher in the dammed river, revealing the loss of extreme trait combinations from the functional space. Comparisons between observed and expected β‐diversity revealed a higher trait turnover than would be expected by species turnover in the preserved river, and no differences from the null models were observed in lakes associated with the dammed river. Our results suggest that dissimilarity in trait composition is influenced more by environmental changes associated with river damming than by dissimilarity in species composition such that a functional homogenisation occurs without a change in taxonomic β‐diversity. We propose the maintenance of preserved tributaries in floodplains, which sustain environmental heterogeneity, primarily if the nearby environments are already dammed. Furthermore, we reinforce the necessity of a pluralistic approach, considering both taxonomic and functional aspects of biodiversity in ecosystem management.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of dams decrease zooplankton functional β‐diversity in river‐associated lakes

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Theory linking functional diversity to ecosystem structure and function has historically focused on functional diversity of primary producers (Litchman, Klausmeier, Schofield, & Falkowski, 2007;Tilman, 1999;Violle et al, 2007), but trait-based models have also been used effectively to predict responses to varying functional diversity at higher trophic levels (Barnett, Finlay, & Beisner, 2007;Hébert, Beisner, & Maranger, 2016a;Hulot, Lacroix, Lescher-Moutoue, & Loreau, 2000;Lefcheck & Duffy, 2015). Many stoichiometric traits vary predictably over biologically relevant environmental gradients, and the functional importance of these traits has been well-documented (Hébert, Beisner, & Maranger, 2016b); as a result, trait-based approaches offer a powerful link between organisms and ecosystem function (Carmona, de Bello, Mason, & Lepš, 2016;González, Dézerald, Marquet, Romero, & Srivastava, 2017;Meunier et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional shifts in lake zooplankton communities with hypereutrophication

Moody

Wilkinson

2019

Freshwater Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Functional variation among consumer communities can alter ecosystem nutrient cycling. These impacts on ecosystem function can be specifically driven by interspecific variation in stoichiometric traits; thus, functional trait‐based approaches can be used to explain the processes controlling ecosystem stoichiometry. However, eutrophication may reduce the functional importance of consumers in ecosystems by eliminating heterogeneity in nutrient recycling among taxa. To test whether zooplankton functional diversity, i.e. aspects of the stoichiometric trait space occupied by zooplankton communities, varies over gradients in trophic state and nutrient stoichiometry, we examined functional and taxonomic variation in the zooplankton communities of 130 lakes in the agriculturally dominated state of Iowa (U.S.A.) over 7 years. Stoichiometric functional dispersion decreased with trophic state index, supporting the trait abundance shift hypothesis that hypereutrophic lakes are characterised by different combinations of functional traits than their less eutrophic counterparts. Zooplankton communities became increasingly N‐rich relative to P as TSI increased. Specifically, P‐poor Bosmina, Chydorus, and cyclopoid copepods increased in abundance with eutrophication. Stoichiometric trait distributions of zooplankton shift with eutrophication, which implies that the unique functioning of hypereutrophic lakes could be due in part to the consumers inhabiting them. As zooplankton N:P increased with trophic state while lake total nitrogen to total phosphorus ratio decreased with trophic state, P‐poor zooplankton taxa may exacerbate excess P availability in these hypereutrophic systems by differentially recycling P at higher rates.

show abstract

“…Zooplankton body size is considered a functional trait of effect and response to the environment (Litchman, Ohman, & Kiørboe, ), and is fundamental for evaluating various ecosystem processes, including productivity, ecosystem respiration, nutrient cycling, and energy transfer; and body size is related to zooplankton ecological strategies (Hébert, Beisner, & Maranger, ). Mass, length, and individual volume, for example, are attributes related to the vertical transport of food and nutrients (Litchman et al, ) to zooplankton.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High food availability linked to dominance of small zooplankton in a subtropical floodplain

Bomfim

Braghin

Bonecker

et al. 2018

Internat Rev Hydrobiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Zooplankton body size is fundamentally affecting productivity, ecosystem respiration, nutrient cycling, and energy transfer and may be controlled by food availability but also water physical and chemical characteristics. However, the differences in control of water physical and chemical characteristics and food availability on zooplankton body size have rarely been investigated in subtropical systems. We tested the hypotheses that: (i) the type of environment, food availability, and water physical and chemical characteristics would influence body size distribution in the Upper Paraná River floodplain and nearby subsystems and (ii) in environments with higher food availability, small‐sized organisms would predominate showing higher abundance, whereas the opposite would occur in environments with lower food availability. To test these hypotheses, we performed partial redundancy and redundancy analyses (RDA). Our results showed that food availability, Secchi depth, and suspended inorganic matter influenced the body size structure of rotifers and cladocerans. Additionally, we observed that greater food availability was related to greater abundance of organisms, which were dominated by small‐sized zooplankton (size classes C2 and C1 in rotifers, and class C2′ in cladocerans). It was possible to associate different zooplankton body size spectra with phytoplankton biovolume and planktonic ciliate abundance. We suggest that large‐bodied cladocerans could have a competitive advantage over rotifers and small‐sized cladocerans when resources are scarce, because the large‐sized group could explore a wider range of resource types.

show abstract

Linking zooplankton communities to ecosystem functioning: toward an effect-trait framework

Cited by 118 publications

References 80 publications

Effects of dams decrease zooplankton functional β‐diversity in river‐associated lakes

Effects of dams decrease zooplankton functional β‐diversity in river‐associated lakes

Functional shifts in lake zooplankton communities with hypereutrophication

High food availability linked to dominance of small zooplankton in a subtropical floodplain

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About