Warming reduces trophic diversity in high‐latitude food webs

Abstract The physical effects of climate warming have been well documented, but the biological responses are far less well known, especially at the ecosystem level and at large (intercontinental) scales. Global warming over the next century is generally predicted to reduce food web complexity, but this is rarely tested empirically due to the dearth of studies isolating the effects of temperature on complex natural food webs. To overcome this obstacle, we used ‘natural experiments’ across 14 streams in Iceland and Russia, with natural warming of up to 20°C above the coldest stream in each high‐latitude region, where anthropogenic warming is predicted to be especially rapid. Using biomass‐weighted stable isotope data, we found that community isotopic divergence (a universal, taxon‐free measure of trophic diversity) was consistently lower in warmer streams. We also found a clear shift towards greater assimilation of autochthonous carbon, which was driven by increasing dominance of herbivores but without a concomitant increase in algal stocks. Overall, our results support the prediction that higher temperatures will simplify high‐latitude freshwater ecosystems and provide the first mechanistic glimpses of how warming alters energy transfer through food webs at intercontinental scales.

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Publication Details

Journal
Global Change Biology
Published
2024-10-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17518
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Isotope Analysis in Ecology
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.92

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article

Warming reduces trophic diversity in high‐latitude food webs

Luis Moliner Cachazo, Bruno Gallo, Ian R. Sanders, Sarah F. Harpenslager et al.
2 citations
Global Change Biology
Isotope Analysis in Ecology
0.92
article

Warming reduces trophic diversity in high‐latitude food webs

Luis Moliner Cachazo, Bruno Gallo, Ian R. Sanders, Sarah F. Harpenslager, Stephen J. Brooks, Olga V. Aksenova, Mark Trimmer, Michelle C. Jackson, Guy Woodward, Eoin J. O’Gorman, Tom C. Cameron, Hannah J. Prentice, Kate C. Randall, Alex J. Dumbrell, Yulia V. Bespalaya, Katrin Layer‐Dobra, Nikolai Friberg, Danielle N. Harris
article en
2 citations

Abstract

Abstract The physical effects of climate warming have been well documented, but the biological responses are far less well known, especially at the ecosystem level and at large (intercontinental) scales. Global warming over the next century is generally predicted to reduce food web complexity, but this is rarely tested empirically due to the dearth of studies isolating the effects of temperature on complex natural food webs. To overcome this obstacle, we used ‘natural experiments’ across 14 streams in Iceland and Russia, with natural warming of up to 20°C above the coldest stream in each high‐latitude region, where anthropogenic warming is predicted to be especially rapid. Using biomass‐weighted stable isotope data, we found that community isotopic divergence (a universal, taxon‐free measure of trophic diversity) was consistently lower in warmer streams. We also found a clear shift towards greater assimilation of autochthonous carbon, which was driven by increasing dominance of herbivores but without a concomitant increase in algal stocks. Overall, our results support the prediction that higher temperatures will simplify high‐latitude freshwater ecosystems and provide the first mechanistic glimpses of how warming alters energy transfer through food webs at intercontinental scales.

Global Change BiologyVol. 30(10)
University of Essex (GB), Northern (Arctic) Federal University (RU), Russian Academy of Sciences (RU), Natural History Museum (GB), Queen Mary University of London (GB), Aarhus University (DK), Northumbria University (GB), University of Oxford (GB), B-Ware (Netherlands) (NL), Imperial College London (GB)
Sight Research UK, Fisheries Society of the British Isles, Natural Environment Research Council
Openalex Percentile: Top 22%
Isotope Analysis in Ecology
0.92
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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