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Stoichiometric distribution models: ecological stoichiometry at the landscape extent
Shawn J Leroux1, Eric Vander Wal1, Yolanda F Wiersma1
1Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, A1B 3X9, Canada.
Ecology Letters
|October 14, 2017
Summary
Stoichiometric Distribution Models (StDMs) map elemental composition across landscapes, improving predictions of how consumer behavior and ecosystem processes respond to global change. This approach integrates spatial patterns into ecological stoichiometry.
Area of Science:
- Ecological stoichiometry
- Biogeochemistry
- Spatial ecology
Background:
- Human activities are altering global biogeochemical cycles.
- Understanding the spatial patterns of organismal stoichiometry is crucial for predicting ecosystem responses to global change.
- Current ecological stoichiometry often overlooks spatial variations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop Stoichiometric Distribution Models (StDMs) for mapping spatial resource stoichiometry.
- To evaluate how spatial patterns in resource elemental composition affect consumer responses.
- To improve predictions of consumer space use and ecosystem processes under global change.
Main Methods:
- Development and parameterization of Stoichiometric Distribution Models (StDMs).
- Application of StDMs to a moose-white birch consumer-resource system.
- Mapping spatial resource stoichiometry and evaluating consumer space use.
Main Results:
- StDMs can predict resource stoichiometry across landscapes.
- Predictive models of resource stoichiometry can enhance predictions of consumer space use.
- Explicit consideration of spatial elemental composition reveals emergent ecosystem properties.
Conclusions:
- StDMs offer a novel tool for spatial ecosystem ecology.
- This approach integrates ecological stoichiometry with individual space use and fitness.
- StDMs can advance meta-ecosystem theory, macroecological stoichiometry, and remotely sensed biogeochemistry.
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