Size-based ecological interactions drive food web responses to climate warming

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Climate Change Biology
• Theoretical Ecology

Background:

• Predicting climate change impacts on animal communities necessitates understanding how physiological effects are influenced by ecological interactions.
• Food-dependent growth and intraspecific size variation are temperature-dependent, impacting community dynamics through feedbacks between individual performance and population size structure.
• The effects of warming on these crucial feedbacks remain poorly understood.

Discussion:

• Warming's impact on community stability is contingent upon ecological interactions.
• Predator biomass generally declines with warming, either gradually or through population collapses.
• These collapses are linked to warming-induced alternative stable states driven by Allee effects.

Key Insights:

• Temperature-dependent life history processes significantly influence food chain dynamics.
• Warming can destabilize tri-trophic food chains by altering predator-prey relationships and size structure.
• Ecological interactions, particularly Allee effects, mediate the severity of warming impacts on predator persistence.

Outlook:

• Further research is needed to explore the complex interplay between temperature, ecological interactions, and food web stability.
• Understanding these feedbacks is critical for accurate predictions of biodiversity responses to climate change.
• Conservation strategies may need to account for altered predator dynamics in warmer climates.