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Predicted rainfall changes disrupt trophic interactions in a tropical aquatic ecosystem.
Aliny P F Pires1, Nicholas A C Marino1, Diane S Srivastava2
1Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ecology
|November 19, 2016
Summary
Climate change impacts tropical aquatic ecosystems. Altered rainfall disrupts species interactions and food webs, even if species numbers remain stable. Resource diversity does not prevent these negative effects.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Climate Change Biology
- Aquatic Ecology
Background:
- Rainfall pattern shifts and extreme events impact aquatic ecosystem size and persistence.
- Aquatic communities are vulnerable to changes in species composition and interactions due to altered rainfall.
- Leaf litter is crucial for detrital food webs, potentially mediating community responses to rainfall variability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how predicted rainfall changes affect community composition and trophic interactions in tropical aquatic ecosystems.
- To evaluate if basal resource diversity can enhance community resistance to rainfall alterations.
- To understand the combined effects of rainfall changes and litter diversity on trophic interactions using structural equation modeling.
Main Methods:
- Utilized water-holding terrestrial bromeliads as a model tropical aquatic ecosystem.
- Employed structural equation modeling to analyze the interplay between rainfall variability and litter diversity.
- Assessed impacts on species abundance, richness, community composition, and trophic interactions.
Main Results:
- Rainfall changes significantly disrupted trophic relationships within the studied ecosystems.
- Direct effects on species abundance, richness, and community composition were minor.
- Increased litter diversity did not mitigate the negative impacts of altered rainfall on trophic interactions.
Conclusions:
- Changes in rainfall patterns can decouple species interactions, weakening food web linkages.
- Reduced biotic interactions under climate change pose critical threats to tropical aquatic ecosystem functioning.
- The resilience of these ecosystems is compromised by altered rainfall regimes, impacting overall ecological stability.
Keywords:
aquatic ecosystemsclimate changeinsurance effectslitter diversitynatural microcosmprecipitationtank bromeliadstrophic interactionsMore Related Videos
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