1
|
Steube TR, Altenritter ME, Walther BD. Distributive stress: individually variable responses to hypoxia expand trophic niches in fish. Ecology 2021; 102:e03356. [PMID: 33811651 PMCID: PMC8244237 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2020] [Revised: 01/05/2021] [Accepted: 02/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Environmental stress can reshape trophic interactions by excluding predators or rendering prey vulnerable, depending on the relative sensitivity of species to the stressor. Classical models of food web responses to stress predict either complete predator exclusion from stressed areas or complete prey vulnerability if predators are stress tolerant. However, if the consumer response to the stress is individually variable, the result may be a distributive stress model (DSM) whereby predators distribute consumption pressure across a range of prey guilds and their trophic niche is expanded. We test these models in one of the largest hypoxic “Dead Zones” in the world, the northern Gulf of Mexico, by combining geochemical tracers of hypoxia exposure and isotope ratios to assess individual‐level trophic responses. Hypoxia‐exposed fish occupied niche widths that were 14.8% and 400% larger than their normoxic counterparts in two different years, consistent with variable displacement from benthic to pelagic food webs. The degree of isotopic displacement depended on the magnitude of hypoxia exposure. These results are consistent with the DSM and highlight the need to account for individually variable sublethal effects when predicting community responses to environmental stress.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tyler R Steube
- Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, 6300 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, Texas, 78412, USA
| | - Matthew E Altenritter
- Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, 6300 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, Texas, 78412, USA.,Department of Environmental Science & Ecology, The College at Brockport, State University of New York, 350 New Campus Drive, Brockport, New York, 14420, USA
| | - Benjamin D Walther
- Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, 6300 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, Texas, 78412, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Lunghi E, Manenti R, Cianferoni F, Ceccolini F, Veith M, Corti C, Ficetola GF, Mancinelli G. Interspecific and interpopulation variation in individual diet specialization: Do environmental factors have a role? Ecology 2020; 101:e03088. [PMID: 32320485 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2019] [Revised: 03/13/2020] [Accepted: 04/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Individual diet specialization (IS) has important community- and population-level implications and its ecological drivers are actively investigated. Here, to test the hypothesis that local environmental conditions may influence IS in wild populations, we analyzed the stomach contents of 395 individuals from eight populations of five allopatric species of European cave salamanders (genus Hydromantes). We assessed whether their degree of individual diet specialization (1) scaled positively with the respective niche widths, in agreement with Van Valen's niche variation hypothesis (NVH), and (2) could be predicted by satellite-derived climatic and vegetation characteristics of the sites where the populations live. Consistent with the NVH, the degree of individual diet specialization increased with the populations' total niche width. Furthermore, two variables describing local nonarboreal vegetation cover and habitat heterogeneity successfully predicted the variation in individual specialization across the eight populations. Climatic factors had a generally low predictive power, with individual specialization in low- and high-elevation populations showing contrasting patterns of co-variation with air temperature in the warmest quarter of the year. However, independently from elevation, specialization peaked under conditions of high nonarboreal vegetation cover and high precipitation regimes. We discussed the results against two mutually nonexclusive scenarios hypothesizing different mechanisms linking environmental factors to salamanders' trophic strategy at an individual and population level. We concluded that satellite-derived climatic and vegetation variables to date generally adopted to model Grinnellian niches might also be useful in predicting spatial variations in dietary habits of populations, that is, their Eltonian niches.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Enrico Lunghi
- Key Laboratory of the Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beichen West Road 1, Beijing, 100101, China.,Museo di Storia Naturale "La Specola" dell'Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via Romana 17, Firenze, 50125, Italy.,Biogeographie, Universität Trier Fachbereich VI Raum-und Umweltwissenschaften, Universitätsring 15, Trier, 54286, Germany
| | - Raoul Manenti
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 26, Milano, 20133, Italy
| | - Fabio Cianferoni
- Museo di Storia Naturale "La Specola" dell'Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via Romana 17, Firenze, 50125, Italy.,Istituto di Ricerca sugli Ecosistemi Terrestri (IRET), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via Madonna del Piano, Sesto Fiorentino (Firenze), 50019, Italy
| | - Filippo Ceccolini
- Museo di Storia Naturale "La Specola" dell'Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via Romana 17, Firenze, 50125, Italy
| | - Michael Veith
- Biogeographie, Universität Trier Fachbereich VI Raum-und Umweltwissenschaften, Universitätsring 15, Trier, 54286, Germany
| | - Claudia Corti
- Museo di Storia Naturale "La Specola" dell'Università degli Studi di Firenze, Via Romana 17, Firenze, 50125, Italy
| | - Gentile Francesco Ficetola
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Politiche Ambientali, Università degli Studi di Milano, via Celoria 26, Milano, 20133, Italy.,Laboratoire d'Écologie Alpine (LECA), Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, CS 40700, Grenoble, 38058, France
| | - Giorgio Mancinelli
- Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali (DiSTeBA), Università del Salento, Centro Ecotekne, S.P. Lecce-Monteroni, Lecce, 73100, Italy.,Istituto per le Risorse Biologiche e le Biotecnologie Marine (IRBIM), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via Pola, 4, Lesina (Foggia), 71010, Italy.,CoNISMa, Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare, Piazzale Flaminio, 9, Roma, 00196, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Delmas E, Besson M, Brice MH, Burkle LA, Dalla Riva GV, Fortin MJ, Gravel D, Guimarães PR, Hembry DH, Newman EA, Olesen JM, Pires MM, Yeakel JD, Poisot T. Analysing ecological networks of species interactions. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2019; 94:16-36. [PMID: 29923657 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12433] [Citation(s) in RCA: 180] [Impact Index Per Article: 36.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2017] [Revised: 05/08/2018] [Accepted: 05/14/2018] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Network approaches to ecological questions have been increasingly used, particularly in recent decades. The abstraction of ecological systems - such as communities - through networks of interactions between their components indeed provides a way to summarize this information with single objects. The methodological framework derived from graph theory also provides numerous approaches and measures to analyze these objects and can offer new perspectives on established ecological theories as well as tools to address new challenges. However, prior to using these methods to test ecological hypotheses, it is necessary that we understand, adapt, and use them in ways that both allow us to deliver their full potential and account for their limitations. Here, we attempt to increase the accessibility of network approaches by providing a review of the tools that have been developed so far, with - what we believe to be - their appropriate uses and potential limitations. This is not an exhaustive review of all methods and metrics, but rather, an overview of tools that are robust, informative, and ecologically sound. After providing a brief presentation of species interaction networks and how to build them in order to summarize ecological information of different types, we then classify methods and metrics by the types of ecological questions that they can be used to answer from global to local scales, including methods for hypothesis testing and future perspectives. Specifically, we show how the organization of species interactions in a community yields different network structures (e.g., more or less dense, modular or nested), how different measures can be used to describe and quantify these emerging structures, and how to compare communities based on these differences in structures. Within networks, we illustrate metrics that can be used to describe and compare the functional and dynamic roles of species based on their position in the network and the organization of their interactions as well as associated new methods to test the significance of these results. Lastly, we describe potential fruitful avenues for new methodological developments to address novel ecological questions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eva Delmas
- Département de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, H2V 2J7, Canada.,Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, H3A 1B1, Canada
| | - Mathilde Besson
- Département de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, H2V 2J7, Canada.,Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, H3A 1B1, Canada
| | - Marie-Hélène Brice
- Département de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, H2V 2J7, Canada.,Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, H3A 1B1, Canada
| | - Laura A Burkle
- Department of Ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59715, U.S.A
| | - Giulio V Dalla Riva
- Beaty Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Marie-Josée Fortin
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 3B2, Canada
| | - Dominique Gravel
- Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, H3A 1B1, Canada.,Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, J1K 2R1, Canada
| | - Paulo R Guimarães
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 05508-090, Brazil
| | - David H Hembry
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A
| | - Erica A Newman
- School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A.,Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service, Seattle, WA 98103, U.S.A
| | - Jens M Olesen
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, 8000, Denmark
| | - Mathias M Pires
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, 13083-862, Brazil
| | - Justin D Yeakel
- Life & Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, CA 95343, U.S.A.,Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, U.S.A
| | - Timothée Poisot
- Département de Sciences Biologiques, Université de Montréal, Montréal, H2V 2J7, Canada.,Québec Centre for Biodiversity Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, H3A 1B1, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Schmid DW, McGee MD, Best RJ, Seehausen O, Matthews B. Rapid Divergence of Predator Functional Traits Affects Prey Composition in Aquatic Communities. Am Nat 2019; 193:331-345. [PMID: 30794448 DOI: 10.1086/701784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Identifying traits that underlie variation in individual performance of consumers (i.e., trait utility) can help reveal the ecological causes of population divergence and the subsequent consequences for species interactions and community structure. Here, we document a case of rapid divergence (over the past 100 generations, or ∼150 years) in foraging traits and feeding efficiency between a lake and stream population pair of threespine stickleback. Building on predictions from functional trait models of fish feeding, we analyzed foraging experiments with a Bayesian path analysis and elucidated the traits explaining variation in foraging performance and the species composition of ingested prey. Despite extensive previous research on the divergence of foraging traits among populations and ecotypes of stickleback, our results provide novel experimental evidence of trait utility for jaw protrusion, gill raker length, and gill raker spacing when foraging on a natural zooplankton assemblage. Furthermore, we discuss how these traits might contribute to the differential effects of lake and stream stickleback on their prey communities, observed in both laboratory and mesocosm conditions. More generally, our results illustrate how the rapid divergence of functional foraging traits of consumers can impact the biomass, species composition, and trophic structure of prey communities.
Collapse
|
5
|
Melián CJ, Matthews B, de Andreazzi CS, Rodríguez JP, Harmon LJ, Fortuna MA. Deciphering the Interdependence between Ecological and Evolutionary Networks. Trends Ecol Evol 2018; 33:504-512. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2018.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2016] [Revised: 04/11/2018] [Accepted: 04/12/2018] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
|
6
|
Miguel MF, Jordano P, Tabeni S, Campos CM. Context-dependency and anthropogenic effects on individual plant-frugivore networks. OIKOS 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.04978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- M. Florencia Miguel
- Inst. Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas (UNCuyo- Gobierno de Mendoza-CONICET); Av. A. Ruiz Leal s/n, Parque General San Martín CP 5500, CC 507 Mendoza Argentina
- Integrative Ecology Group; Estación Biológica de Doñana EBD-CSIC Sevilla Spain
| | - Pedro Jordano
- Integrative Ecology Group; Estación Biológica de Doñana EBD-CSIC Sevilla Spain
| | - Solana Tabeni
- Inst. Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas (UNCuyo- Gobierno de Mendoza-CONICET); Av. A. Ruiz Leal s/n, Parque General San Martín CP 5500, CC 507 Mendoza Argentina
| | - Claudia M. Campos
- Inst. Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas (UNCuyo- Gobierno de Mendoza-CONICET); Av. A. Ruiz Leal s/n, Parque General San Martín CP 5500, CC 507 Mendoza Argentina
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Astegiano J, Altermatt F, Massol F. Disentangling the co-structure of multilayer interaction networks: degree distribution and module composition in two-layer bipartite networks. Sci Rep 2017; 7:15465. [PMID: 29133886 PMCID: PMC5684352 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-15811-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2017] [Accepted: 11/02/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Species establish different interactions (e.g. antagonistic, mutualistic) with multiple species, forming multilayer ecological networks. Disentangling network co-structure in multilayer networks is crucial to predict how biodiversity loss may affect the persistence of multispecies assemblages. Existing methods to analyse multilayer networks often fail to consider network co-structure. We present a new method to evaluate the modular co-structure of multilayer networks through the assessment of species degree co-distribution and network module composition. We focus on modular structure because of its high prevalence among ecological networks. We apply our method to two Lepidoptera-plant networks, one describing caterpillar-plant herbivory interactions and one representing adult Lepidoptera nectaring on flowers, thereby possibly pollinating them. More than 50% of the species established either herbivory or visitation interactions, but not both. These species were over-represented among plants and lepidopterans, and were present in most modules in both networks. Similarity in module composition between networks was high but not different from random expectations. Our method clearly delineates the importance of interpreting multilayer module composition similarity in the light of the constraints imposed by network structure to predict the potential indirect effects of species loss through interconnected modular networks.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julia Astegiano
- Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal, FCEFyN, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, CONICET, Argentina.
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul Valéry Montpellier - EPHE, 1919 route de Mende, F-34293, Montpellier, France.
| | - Florian Altermatt
- Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Department of Aquatic Ecology, CH-8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, CH-8057, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - François Massol
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul Valéry Montpellier - EPHE, 1919 route de Mende, F-34293, Montpellier, France
- CNRS, Université de Lille-Sciences et Technologies, UMR 8198 Evo-Eco-Paleo, SPICI group, F-59000, Lille, France
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Bayesian characterization of uncertainty in species interaction strengths. Oecologia 2017; 184:327-339. [DOI: 10.1007/s00442-017-3867-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2016] [Accepted: 04/05/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
|
9
|
Crutsinger GM. A community genetics perspective: opportunities for the coming decade. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2016; 210:65-70. [PMID: 26171846 DOI: 10.1111/nph.13537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2015] [Accepted: 05/26/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Community genetics was originally proposed as a novel approach to identifying links between genes and ecosystems, and merging ecological and evolutional perspectives. The dozen years since the birth of community genetics have seen many empirical studies and common garden experiments, as well as the rise of eco-evolutionary dynamics research and a general shift in ecology to incorporate intraspecific variation. So what have we learned from community genetics? Can individual genes affect entire ecosystems? Are there interesting questions left to be answered, or has community genetics run its course? This perspective makes a series of key points about the general patterns that have emerged and calls attention to gaps in our understanding to be addressed in the coming years.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gregory M Crutsinger
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, 4200-6270 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC, V6T1Z4, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Hoffman CR, Sitvarin MI, Rypstra AL. Information from familiar and related conspecifics affects foraging in a solitary wolf spider. Oecologia 2015; 181:359-67. [PMID: 26497123 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-015-3460-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2015] [Accepted: 09/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
As neighbours become familiar with one another, they can divert attention away from one another and focus on other activities. Since familiarity is a likely mechanism by which animals recognise relatives, both kinship and prior association with conspecifics should allow individuals to increase foraging. We attempted to determine if the interference observed among conspecific foragers could be mitigated by familiarity and/or kinship. Because Pardosa milvina wolf spiders are sensitive to chemotactile cues deposited on substrates by other spiders, we used cues to manipulate the information available to focal spiders. We first verified that animals could use these cues to differentiate relatives and familiar conspecifics. We then documented foraging in the presence of all combinations of related and familiar animal cues. Test spiders were slower foragers, less likely to capture prey, and consumed less of each prey item when on cues from unfamiliar kin, but were faster and more effective foragers on cues from familiar non-kin. Their reactions to familiar kin and unfamiliar non-kin were intermediate. High foraging intensity on familiar cues is consistent with the idea that animals pay less attention to neighbours after some prior association. Lower foraging effort in the presence of cues from relatives may be an attempt to reduce kin competition by shifting attention toward dispersal or to provide increased access to prey for hungry relatives nearby. These findings reveal that information from conspecifics mediates social interactions among individuals and affects foraging in ways that can influence their role in the food web.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Michael I Sitvarin
- Department of Biology, Miami University, Oxford, OH, 45056, USA
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, S-225 Agricultural Science Center North, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA
| | - Ann L Rypstra
- Department of Biology, Miami University, Hamilton, OH, 45011, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
|