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Subsidy accessibility drives asymmetric food web responses
Marie Gutgesell1, Bailey C McMeans2, Matthew M Guzzo1
1Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Ecology
|July 19, 2022
Summary
Resource accessibility, influenced by factors like water temperature, shapes how aquatic food webs utilize subsidies. This study reveals how fish thermal preferences control access to aquaculture feed, altering lake ecosystems.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Environmental Science
- Aquatic Ecosystems
Background:
- Global change impacts natural and anthropogenic resource flows.
- Previous research highlights the role of subsidies in ecosystem function.
- The influence of physical constraints and species traits on subsidy accessibility is understudied.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how physical constraints and species traits affect the accessibility of anthropogenic subsidies.
- To examine the impact of aquaculture feed subsidy on a freshwater lake food web.
- To understand the implications for food web rewiring and ecosystem stability.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a combined bio-tracer approach to track subsidy input.
- Assessed the accessibility gradient of aquaculture feed within the food web.
- Focused on the thermal preferences of three key fish species.
Main Results:
- Detected a gradient in the accessibility of the anthropogenic subsidy.
- Demonstrated that species' thermal preferences drove subsidy accessibility.
- Showcased how this process effectively rewired the lake food web.
Conclusions:
- Subsidy accessibility, governed by physical constraints and species traits, is crucial for understanding ecosystem responses to global change.
- Aquaculture expansion and changing temperature regimes will likely increase such food web alterations.
- Considering subsidy accessibility is essential for predicting ecosystem stability and function.
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