The Paradox of Enrichment in Metaecosystems

Gounand, Isabelle; Mouquet, Nicolas; Canard, Elsa; Guichard, Frédéric; Hauzy, Céline; Gravel, Dominique

doi:10.1086/678406

Cited by 73 publications

(85 citation statements)

References 114 publications

(128 reference statements)

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“…Previous empirical work had shown the importance of directional resource spatial flows between ecosystems for the maintenance of community structure and stability [2,7,40]. However, the temporal feedback that can occur over time had only been investigated in theoretical terms, using the meta-ecosystem framework [9,10,41]. Thus, in a second step we experimentally demonstrated that meta-ecosystem dynamics have implications for natural ecosystems under perturbation pressure because the way neighbouring ecosystems respond can directly affect community dynamics and functioning in connected ecosystems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Spatially cascading effect of perturbations in experimental meta-ecosystems

et al. 2016

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Ecosystems are linked to neighbouring ecosystems not only by dispersal, but also by the movement of subsidy. Such subsidy couplings between ecosystems have important landscape-scale implications because perturbations in one ecosystem may affect community structure and functioning in neighbouring ecosystems via increased/decreased subsidies. Here, we combine a general theoretical approach based on harvesting theory and a two-patch protist metaecosystem experiment to test the effect of regional perturbations on local community dynamics. We first characterized the relationship between the perturbation regime and local population demography on detritus production using a mathematical model. We then experimentally simulated a perturbation gradient affecting connected ecosystems simultaneously, thus altering crossecosystem subsidy exchanges. We demonstrate that the perturbation regime can interact with local population dynamics to trigger unexpected temporal variations in subsidy pulses from one ecosystem to another. High perturbation intensity initially led to the highest level of subsidy flows; however, the level of perturbation interacted with population dynamics to generate a crash in subsidy exchange over time. Both theoretical and experimental results show that a perturbation regime interacting with local community dynamics can induce a collapse in population levels for recipient ecosystems. These results call for integrative management of human-altered landscapes that takes into account regional dynamics of both species and resource flows.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Spatially cascading effect of perturbations in experimental meta-ecosystems

et al. 2016

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“…In simple two-patch meta-ecosystems, phase-locked cycles emerge from the positive feedback between recycling and passive movement of nutrients: more movement into a local ecosystem is correlated with increasing growth of the primary producer, thus destabilizing primary production. This prediction can be generalized to larger (many patch) meta-ecosystems 63 where the top-down control of biomass storage into inorganic form can stabilize a meta-ecosystem in the face of nutrient enrichment. For more complex finite and irregular topologies, the eigenvalues of the connectivity matrix, rather than more common topological metrics, predict the minimum movement of nutrients or of individuals that can destabilize the meta-ecosystem 64 .…”

Section: Meta-ecosystems: From the Local Cycling To Regional Fluxes Omentioning

confidence: 94%

Recent advances in metacommunities and meta-ecosystem theories

Guichard

2017

F1000Res

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Metacommunity theory has provided many insights into the general problem of local versus regional control of species diversity and relative abundance. The metacommunity framework has been extended from competitive interactions to whole food webs that can be described as spatial networks of interaction networks. Trophic metacommunity theory greatly contributed to resolving the community complexity-stability debate by predicting its dependence on the regional spatial context. The meta-ecosystem framework has since been suggested as a useful simplification of complex ecosystems to apply this spatial context to spatial flows of both individuals and matter. Reviewing the recent literature on metacommunity and meta-ecosystem theories suggests the importance of unifying theories of interaction strength into a meta-ecosystem framework that captures how the strength of spatial, species, and ecosystem fluxes are distributed across location and trophic levels. Such integration predicts important feedback between local and regional processes that drive the assembly of species, the stability of community, and the emergence of ecosystem functions, from limited spatial fluxes of individuals and (in)organic matter. These predictions are often mediated by the maintenance of environmental or endogenous fluctuations from local to regional scales that create important challenges and opportunities for the validation of metacommunity and meta-ecosystem theories and their application to conservation.

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“…Empirical research on material, energy and organismal flows across terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems has focused on the flux of small invertebrates (reviewed by Baxter et al ), litter (Wallace et al ), and migratory species (reviewed by Bauer and Hoye ). While we have gained considerable insight on meta‐ecosystem functioning by studying these key resource and consumer subsidies (reviewed by Allen and Wesner ), there have been recent calls to expand empirical studies to capture a greater breadth of the drivers and impacts of cross‐ecosystem fluxes (Soininen et al , Bakker et al , Gounand et al , Massol et al ). Here we fill an important gap in our knowledge of the functioning of meta‐ecosystems by demonstrating evidence for large terrestrial ungulate impacts on small stream functioning.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross‐ecosystem effects of a large terrestrial herbivore on stream ecosystem functioning

MacSween

Leroux

Oakes

2018

Oikos

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Large terrestrial consumers have direct and indirect effects on forest ecosystem function, but few studies have investigated the impacts of terrestrial consumers on freshwater ecosystems. In the Cape Breton Highlands of Nova Scotia, browsing by hyper‐abundant moose following a spruce budworm outbreak has transformed boreal forest into grasslands. We conducted a field study to investigate the potential for cross‐ecosystem effects of hyper‐abundant moose following budworm outbreak on small boreal stream ecosystem structure and function. With our field study, we tested the prediction that watersheds with higher levels of moose‐mediated grasslands in their sub‐basin would have higher stream temperatures, total nitrogen, electrical conductivity, periphyton biomass and macroinvertebrate abundances. While our data supported several of our predictions pertaining to moose impacts on the abiotic variables (i.e. temperature range, total nitrogen, electrical conductivity) we found evidence of variable moose impacts on the benthic community. Specifically, we observed lower relative abundance of predatory invertebrates in streams with high moose impacts compared to streams with low moose impacts in their watersheds but no evidence of moose impacts on the relative abundance of shredders, filterers, gatherers, and grazers. This empirical study fills a key gap in our understanding of spatial ecosystem ecology by providing insight into the effects of large terrestrial consumers across ecosystem boundaries with potential implications for landscape‐scale management of hyper‐abundant ungulates. Given the broad availability and improvement in remote sensing technology, the novel integration of remote sensing and field studies employed here may provide a roadmap for future studies of meta‐ecosystem dynamics.

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The Paradox of Enrichment in Metaecosystems

Cited by 73 publications

References 114 publications

Spatially cascading effect of perturbations in experimental meta-ecosystems

Spatially cascading effect of perturbations in experimental meta-ecosystems

Recent advances in metacommunities and meta-ecosystem theories

Cross‐ecosystem effects of a large terrestrial herbivore on stream ecosystem functioning

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