The latest Ring of Fire paper led by @MichCJackson highlights niche compression mechanisms in naturally-warmed stream food webs, with an increasing reliance on autochthonous carbon #SIA#IsoWeb
Using streams spanning a local temperature gradient in both Iceland and Russia, we found that warming led to simpler food webs. We also found more herbivorous invertebrates with a diet of algae in wa....
Habitat heterogeneity influences mechanisms that exert complementary positive effects on individual functions which, in turn, collectively enhance ecosystem multifunctionality #biodiversity#ecosystemfunctioning#BEF
Topographic heterogeneity sets the stage for community assembly, but its effects on ecosystem functioning remain poorly understood. Here, we test the hypothesis that topographic heterogeneity underpi....
Connectivity is a really important concept in ecology that is multi-faceted. There hasn't been a definitive conceptual synthesis or review to date but this paper comes close #metasystem
A graphical representation of the important connectivity concepts discussed in our review and how they relate to each other. We discuss how connectivity models have increased in biological realism an....
The mechanisms by which litter diversity affects decomposition are sensitive to environmental heterogeneity at multiple scales - suggesting that global change drivers like warming may alter the functioning of aquatic ecosystems
The effects of biodiversity on ecological processes have been experimentally evaluated mainly at the local scale under homogeneous conditions. To scale up experimentally based biodiversity-functionin...
Interesting reproductive behavior in a small benthic marine fish
Study points to “oases of marine life” in need of protection
Shading experiment shows that diatom-based periphyton communities in streams have greater nutritional quality with a higher proportion of PUFAs. Thus, shading associated with riparian plantings may enhance high-quality carbon transfer to consumers in higher trophic levels through bottom-up effects
Biofilms are considered a basal resource with high nutritional quality in stream food webs, as periphytic algae are abundant of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). PUFAs are essential for growth and ...
Interesting story on kōura and their significance to Māori in Aotearoa. It reminds me of the kräftskiva celebrations in Sweden, a traditional summertime eating and drinking event featuring native and introduced freshwater crayfish on the menu (and snaps)
World building: The story of kōura
Testing the landscape theory of #foodweb architecture in a massive lake shows evidence that large, mobile predators integrate energy from different trophic pathways. Traits such as body size and foraging behavior help predict the structure of food webs
The landscape theory of food web architecture (LTFWA) describes relationships among body size, trophic position, mobility, and energy channels that serve to couple heterogenous habitats, which in tur....
Network-based #restoration#biodiversity recovery following collapse is maximized when extirpated species are reintroduced based solely on their total number of connections in the original interaction network
Network-based restoration strategies that prioritize the reintroduction of highly connected species maximize the recovery of biodiversity following ecosystem collapse.
Just looking at a long-term record of fish in the Rangitukia Stream and there are some interesting declines in key species. Here's a photo of a headwater tributary on the Rangitukia
