Is pelagic top-down control in lakes augmented by benthic energy pathways?

2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 1422-1431 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Jake Vander Zanden ◽  
Timothy E Essington ◽  
Yvonne Vadeboncoeur
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Energy Flow ◽  
Standing Stock ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Trophic Dynamics ◽  
Prey Fish ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Contrast Analysis ◽  
Dynamic Perspective

Modern food web studies are typically conducted from a trophic dynamic perspective that focuses on combined roles of top-down and bottom-up forces in regulating food web structure. Recognition of spatial food web subsidies in diverse ecosystems highlights the importance of energy flow as a foundation for understanding trophic dynamics. Here, we consider how different energy flow configurations might affect trophic dynamics in north-temperate lakes. A literature review revealed that littoral piscivores exert top-down control on prey fishes. In contrast, analysis of littoral predator diets indicated extensive omnivory and heavy reliance on zoobenthic prey. We explored this uncoupling between trophic dynamics (piscivores regulate prey fish) and energy flow (zoobenthos in piscivore diets) using a biomass dynamic model. This model compared top-down impacts of a piscivore on prey fishes under two scenarios: consumption of prey fish only and consumption of prey fish plus zoobenthos. The model predicted that elimination of zoobenthivory leads to a 50% reduction in piscivore standing stock and concomitant 2.5-fold increase in prey fish abundance (i.e., zoobenthivory plays a key role in mediating pelagic top-down control). These results highlight the role of benthic–pelagic linkages in regulating trophic dynamics and underscore the value of whole-ecosystem approaches to the study of food webs.

Catchment land cover influences macroinvertebrate food‐web structure and energy flow pathways in mountain streams

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (9) ◽  
pp. 1557-1571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edurne Estévez ◽  
José Manuel Álvarez‐Martínez ◽  
Mario Álvarez‐Cabria ◽  
Christopher T. Robinson ◽  
Tom J. Battin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Energy Flow ◽  
Mountain Streams ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Web Structure ◽  
Flow Pathways

scholarly journals Ecosystem status and functioning: searching for rules of thumb using an intersite comparison of food-web models of Northeast Atlantic continental shelves

2012 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Géraldine Lassalle ◽  
Jérémy Lobry ◽  
François Le Loc'h ◽  
Steven Mackinson ◽  
Francisco Sanchez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Channel Structure ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Northeast Atlantic ◽  
Continental Shelves ◽  
Rules Of Thumb ◽  
Energy Pathways

Abstract Lassalle, G., Lobry, J., Le Loc'h, F., Mackinson, S., Sanchez, F., Tomczak, M. T., and Niquil, N. 2013. Ecosystem status and functioning: searching for rules of thumb using an intersite comparison of food-web models of Northeast Atlantic continental shelves. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 70:135–149. This work aimed to provide a better understanding of how the structure and function of marine ecosystems and trophic control mechanisms influence their response to perturbations. Comparative analysis of Ecopath models of four Northeast Atlantic ecosystems was used to search for rules of thumb defining the similarities and differences between them. Ecosystem indicators, related to the ecology of species interactions, were derived from these models and compared. Two main questions were addressed. (i) What are the main energy pathways and mechanisms of control? (ii) Do these ecosystems exhibit the widespread and potentially stabilizing food-web structure such that top predators couple distinct energy pathways? A strong bentho-pelagic coupling operated over the Bay of Biscay Shelf, while energy reached higher trophic levels mostly through pelagic compartments, in northern areas. Zooplankton was demonstrated to be trophically important in all ecosystems, acting as a regulator of the abundance of small pelagic fish. A latitudinal pattern in flow control was highlighted by this analysis, with a significant contribution of top-down effect at higher latitudes. This top-down control of the Baltic Sea, combined with the fact that this ecosystem did not exhibit the potentially stabilizing two-channel structure, suggested a non-stable environment.

Bottom-up carbon subsidies and top-down predation pressure interact to affect aquatic food web structure

Oikos ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Faithfull ◽  
M. Huss ◽  
T. Vrede ◽  
A.-K. Bergström
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Predation Pressure ◽  
Aquatic Food Web ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Web Structure ◽  
Aquatic Food

scholarly journals Understanding the structure and functioning of polar pelagic ecosystems to predict the impacts of change

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1844) ◽  
pp. 20161646 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. J. Murphy ◽  
R. D. Cavanagh ◽  
K. F. Drinkwater ◽  
S. M. Grant ◽  
J. J. Heymans ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Energy Flow ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Pelagic Ecosystems

The determinants of the structure, functioning and resilience of pelagic ecosystems across most of the polar regions are not well known. Improved understanding is essential for assessing the value of biodiversity and predicting the effects of change (including in biodiversity) on these ecosystems and the services they maintain. Here we focus on the trophic interactions that underpin ecosystem structure, developing comparative analyses of how polar pelagic food webs vary in relation to the environment. We highlight that there is not a singular, generic Arctic or Antarctic pelagic food web, and, although there are characteristic pathways of energy flow dominated by a small number of species, alternative routes are important for maintaining energy transfer and resilience. These more complex routes cannot, however, provide the same rate of energy flow to highest trophic-level species. Food-web structure may be similar in different regions, but the individual species that dominate mid-trophic levels vary across polar regions. The characteristics (traits) of these species are also different and these differences influence a range of food-web processes. Low functional redundancy at key trophic levels makes these ecosystems particularly sensitive to change. To develop models for projecting responses of polar ecosystems to future environmental change, we propose a conceptual framework that links the life histories of pelagic species and the structure of polar food webs.

Crustacean Zooplankton Food Web Structure in Lakes of Varying Acidity

1991 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
pp. 1846-1852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl E. Havens
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Energy Flow ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Crustacean Zooplankton ◽  
Feeding Strategies ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Acidic Lakes ◽  
The North ◽  
Water Ph ◽  
Adirondack Mountain

Crustacean zooplankton food web models were constructed for 25 softwater United States lakes of varying pH (4.7–7.2). Eight lakes on the North Mountain Plateau of Pennsylvania were sampled in 1987, and data from 17 Adirondack Mountain, NY, and White Mountain, NH, lakes were taken from Confer et al. (1983. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 40: 36–42). In the most acidic lakes, the zooplankton food webs were simplified, with only two or three crustacean species; the highest pH lakes contained 6–10 species. Positive relationships were found between lake water pH and species richness, total number of predator–prey interactions, average number of interactions per species, and average generalization of predators. Inverse relationships were found between pH and both the degree of omnivory and cannibalism in the webs, perhaps reflecting the adaptiveness of those feeding strategies under circumstances where energy flow from adjacent trophic levels is reduced. Reduced energy flow may limit the number of trophic levels in the most acidic lakes. Lakes of pH < 5 had only two or three modal trophic levels, while lakes of pH > 5 had three, four, or five levels.

scholarly journals Food Web Structure and Trophic Dynamics of a Fish Community in an Ephemeral Floodplain Lake

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Peel ◽  
Jaclyn M. Hill ◽  
Geraldine C. Taylor ◽  
Olaf L. F. Weyl
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Fish Community ◽  
Trophic Dynamics ◽  
Floodplain Lake ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Web Structure

River damming affects energy flow and food web structure: a case study from a subtropical large river

Hydrobiologia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 847 (3) ◽  
pp. 679-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huijun Ru ◽  
Yunfeng Li ◽  
Qiang Sheng ◽  
Liqiao Zhong ◽  
Zhaohui Ni
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Energy Flow ◽  
Large River ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
River Damming ◽  
Web Structure

scholarly journals Plant-mediated community structure of spring-fed, coastal rivers

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew V. Lauretta ◽  
William E. Pine ◽  
Carl J. Walters ◽  
Thomas K. Frazer
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Primary Production ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Vascular Plant ◽  
Search Efficiency ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Model Predictions ◽  
Filamentous Macroalgae

AbstractQuantifying ecosystem-level processes that drive community structure and function is key to the development of effective environmental restoration and management programs. To assess the effects of large-scale aquatic vegetation loss on fish and invertebrate communities in Florida estuaries, we quantified and compared the food webs of two adjacent spring-fed rivers that flow into the Gulf of Mexico. We constructed a food web model using field-based estimates of community absolute biomass and trophic interactions of a highly productive vegetated river, and modeled long-term simulations of vascular plant decline coupled with seasonal production of filamentous macroalgae. We then compared ecosystem model predictions to observed community structure of the second river that has undergone extensive vegetative habitat loss, including extirpation of several vascular plant species. Alternative models incorporating bottom-up regulation (decreased primary production resulting from plant loss) versus coupled top-down effects (compensatory predator search efficiency) were ranked by goodness-of-fit tests of model predictions to the empirical community observations. Our best model for predicting community responses to vascular plant loss incorporated coupled effects of decreased primary production (bottom-up), increased prey search efficiency of large-bodied fishes at low vascular plant density (top-down), and decreased prey search efficiency of small-bodied fishes with increased biomass of filamentous macroalgae (bottom-up). The results of this study indicate that the loss of vascular plants from the coastal river ecosystem may alter the food web structure and result in a net decline in the biomass of fishes. These results are highly relevant to ongoing landscape-level restoration programs intended to improve aesthetics and ecosystem function of coastal spring-fed rivers by highlighting how the structure of these communities can be regulated both by resource availability and consumption. Restoration programs will need to acknowledge and incorporate both to be successful.

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