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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
The influence of nutrient enrichment on riverine food web function and stability
Ecology and evolution, Vol.11(2), pp.942-954
01/2021
PMID: 33520177
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Source: InCites
Abstract
Nutrient enrichment of rivers and lakes has been increasing rapidly over the past few decades, primarily because of agricultural intensification. Although nutrient enrichment is known to drive excessive algal and microbial growth, which can directly and indirectly change the ecological community composition, the resulting changes in food web emergent properties are poorly understood. We used ecological network analysis (ENA) to examine the emergent properties of 12 riverine food webs across a nutrient enrichment gradient in the Manawatu, New Zealand. We also derive Keystone Sensitivity Indices to explore whether nutrients change the trophic importance of species in a way that alters the resilience of the communities to further nutrient enrichment or floods. Nutrient enrichment resulted in communities composed of energy inefficient species with high community (excluding microbes) respiration. Community respiration was several times greater in enriched communities, and this may drive hypoxic conditions even without concomitant changes in microbial respiration. Enriched communities exhibited weaker trophic cascades, which may yield greater robustness to energy flow loss. Interestingly, enriched communities were also more structurally and functionally affected by species sensitive to flow disturbance making these communities more vulnerable to floods. The food webs of rivers across a nutrient gradient were examined. Enriched webs are likely to be more stable to random disturbances, but less stable to disturbance from floods or further nutrient enrichment. Enriched webs were also composed of relatively inefficient species that showed substantially greater community respiration.
Details
- Title
- The influence of nutrient enrichment on riverine food web function and stability
- Creators
- Adam D. Canning - James Cook UniversityRussell G. Death - Massey University
- Publication Details
- Ecology and evolution, Vol.11(2), pp.942-954
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons Inc
- Identifiers
- 991013092672902368
- Copyright
- © 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article