Stable isotope analysis of consumer food webs indicates ecosystem recovery following prolonged drought in a subtropical estuarine lake

Assessing changes in food-web structure provides a useful monitoring tool for gauging the resilience of ecosystems in the face of climatic impacts. We consider the ecological resilience of a large estuarine lake (St Lucia Estuary, South Africa) in the wake of an extreme climatic event (prolonged drought). Using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes, food-web structure was assessed at five sites across the estuary during the winter and spring of 2013. Sampling occurred approximately three years after heavy rains flooded the system and returned it to a relatively diluted state following an almost decade-long drought that decimated food webs in the upper parts of the estuary due to hypersalinity effects. Comparisons of niche width and variance of consumer food webs among sites revealed a general homogenisation of food webs across the entire system, contrasting with the spatial differentiation of food webs documented during the drought phase. Our results indicate that the estuary is able to maintain ecological resilience at the whole-system level in the face of an extreme drought. This is likely facilitated by source pools of species residing in the relatively stable lower estuary, which are able to rapidly recolonise areas denuded by drought in the upper estuary.     

A physically-based model of long-term food demand

Reducing hunger while staying within planetary boundaries of pollution, land use and fresh water use is one of the most urgent sustainable development goals. It is imperative to understand future food demand, the agricultural system, and the interactions with other natural and human systems. Studying such interactions in the long-term future is often done with Integrated Assessment Modelling. In this paper we develop a new food demand model to make projections several decades ahead, having 46 detailed food categories and population segmented by income and urban vs rural. The core of our model is a set of relationships between income and dietary patterns, with differences between regions and income inequalities within a region. Hereby we take a different, more long-term-oriented approach than elasticity-based macro-economic models (Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) and Partial Equilibrium (PE) models). The physical and detailed nature of our model allows for fine-grained scenario exploration. We first apply the model to the newly developed Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSP) scenarios, and then to additional sustainable development scenarios of food waste reduction and dietary change. We conclude that total demand for crops and grass could increase roughly 35–165% between 2010 and 2100, that this future demand growth can be tempered more effectively by replacing animal products than by reducing food waste, and that income-based consumption inequality persists and is a contributing factor to our estimate that 270 million people could still be undernourished in 2050.     

Water Flow, Trophic Depletion, and Benthic Macrofauna Impoverishment in a Submarine Cave from the Western Mediterranean

Abstract. Biotic zonation and severe impoverishment of benthic macrofauna are two of the most conspicuous features of submarine caves. The prevailing explanation assumes trophic depletion caused by reduction of water flow. However, no isolation of water was found in the studied Catalan submarine cave, even in the wall microlayer. Fluorescein diffusion was so fast that it was detectable everywhere in the cave already only a few minutes after the injection. The rate of dissolution of plaster spheres was even greater in the cave than in a nearby tunnel – without benthic macrofauna impoverishment – showing a considerable water flow. The oxygen concentration of water in dialysis bags placed at varying distances from the cave walls showed that no wall microlayer gradients were present.
Biochemical gradients did not indicate any decrease in food supply. Although photosynthetic pigment concentration generally decreased inside the cave, and although the gradients were not linear but formed different patterns throughout the cave, the BOD₅, the POM, the C:N ratio, the [³H]-thymidine incorporation rate, and the ETS activity were higher in the inner part of the cave. There was an accumulation of detritic material and bacteria in the inner parts that constitute a plausible food supply for benthic macrofauna.
If neither water motion nor food supply can be invoked, research into the causes of zonation and disappearence of benthic macrofauna is proposed to be carried out on biotic interactions and behavioural processes.     

The Diets in Four Pacific Tube Blennies (Acanthemblemaria: Chaenopsidae): Lack of Ecological Divergence in Syntopic Species

Abstract. The diets of three syntopic Gulf of California Acanthemblemaria (A. balanorum, A. crock-eri and A. macrospilus) and A. castroi from the Galapagos Island are nearly uniformly composed of harpacticoid copepods and other small benthic-vagile or planktonic crustaceans. On occasion, large prey items such as crabs or other small fishes are taken. HORN'S index of niche overlap indicates that the three syntopic Acanthemblemaria are not separated along the food resource utilization axis. Slight variations in diets among the syntopic species seem to be related to differences in degree of microhabitat specialization.     

Reference and current Trophic Level Index of New Zealand lakes: benchmarks to inform lake management and assessment

ABSTRACT

Knowledge of trophic status is fundamental to understanding the condition and function of lake ecosystems. We developed regression models to predict chlorophyll a concentrations (chl a) in New Zealand lakes for reference and current states, based on an existing dataset of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations for 1031 lakes. Models were then developed to predict Secchi depth based on chl a and a sediment resuspension term applicable to shallow lakes. Estimates of all four Trophic Level Index (TLI) variables (chl a, TN, TP and Secchi depth) were analysed to estimate reference and current state TLI for the nationally representative sample of 1031 lakes. There was a trend of eutrophication between reference and current states, with systematic differences among lake geomorphic types. Mean chl a increased 3.5-fold (2.42?mg?m^?3 vs. 8.32?mg?m^?3) and mean Secchi depth decreased (indicating lower clarity) by approximately one-third (9.62?m vs. 6.48?m) between reference and current states. On average, TLI increased by 0.67, with the TLI increase >1 in approximately one-third (31%) of lakes. This study informs the status of lake ecosystems in NZ and provides benchmarks to guide management and assessment.     

南沙渚碧礁生态系营养关系的稳定碳同位素研究

利用稳定碳同位素分析技术研究了南沙渚碧礁生态系食物网主要生物类群之间的营养关系。结果表明，生物的稳定碳同位素组成与其营养来源有密切关系。浮游植物的δ^13C为-18.3‰，与其所处海域的环境条件一致，浮游动物的δ^13C值变化较大，范围为-20.4‰～-10.9‰,表明可能存在浮游植物和碎屑两种营养来源。珊瑚和砗磲的碳同位素组成（-17‰～-15‰）与浮游动物相差较大，暗示共生虫黄藻可能在这些珊瑚的营养来源中起重要作用。底栖海参（-9.6‰)和蜘蛛螺（-12.5‰)的碳同位不比组成与它们沉积物食性的营养特征吻合。鱼类的δ^13C值变化范围较大（-17.7‰～-10.9‰），未表现出随营养级升高而增大的趋势，说明影响鱼类碳同位素组成的因素比较复杂。     

Water storage dynamics in a till hillslope: the foundation for modeling flows and turnover times

Studies on hydrology, biogeochemistry, or mineral weathering often rely on assumptions about flow paths, water storage dynamics, and transit times. Testing these assumptions requires detailed hydrometric data that are usually unavailable at the catchment scale. Hillslope studies provide an alternative for obtaining a better understanding, but even on such well‐defined and delimited scales, it is rare to have a comprehensive set of hydrometric observations from the water divide down to the stream that can constrain efforts to quantify water storage, movement, and turnover time. Here, we quantified water storage with daily resolution in a hillslope during the course of almost an entire year using hydrological measurements at the study site and an extended version of the vertical equilibrium model. We used an exponential function to simulate the relationship between hillslope discharge and water table; this was used to derive transmissivity profiles along the hillslope and map mean pore water velocities in the saturated zone. Based on the transmissivity profiles, the soil layer transmitting 99% of lateral flow to the stream had a depth that ranged from 8.9 m at the water divide to under 1 m closer to the stream. During the study period, the total storage of this layer varied from 1189 to 1485 mm, resulting in a turnover time of 2172 days. From the pore water velocities, we mapped the time it would take a water particle situated at any point of the saturated zone anywhere along the hillslope to exit as runoff. Our calculations point to the strengths as well as limitations of simple hydrometric data for inferring hydrological properties and water travel times in the subsurface.     

Long‐term nutrient enrichment alters nematode trophic structure and body size in a Spartina alterniflora salt marsh

The effects of long‐term experimental nutrient enrichment on nematode trophic guilds and morphometrics were examined in intertidal saltmarsh creeks of Plum Island Estuary, Massachusetts, USA. Nematodes from the marsh‐edge Spartina alterniflora habitat in a reference creek (n = 3300) were sampled annually and compared with nematodes (n = 3100) from a creek in which nitrate and phosphate loading rates were increased approximately 10–15× for 6 years. Trophic guilds in both creeks were dominated by epistrate (diatom) feeders and predators, and natural temporal variability across years was high. However, after 4 years of nutrient enrichment, a shift in the nutrient‐enriched creek was detected from a dominance of epistrate feeders to an increased proportion of predators, even though neither the benthic microalgae biomass nor the total density of nematodes was affected by fertilization. Nematodes also became longer, and longer relative to their diameter over time with nutrient enrichment because of the shift in trophic structure as short‐stout epistrate feeders were replaced with longer, more slender predators. These changes may have been directly related to nutrient enrichment effects on benthic algae or indirectly to the many other effects of enrichments on ecosystem structure or function. Our research indicates that nutrient enrichment alters the nematode community and this alternation may directly or indirectly affect the response of benthic algae to nutrient enrichment and as well as other ecosystem services.