IsoFresh: A global stable isotope database of freshwater food webs
Ecologists seek to understand the ways that human activities are altering the structures and processes that support biodiversity and nature's contributions to people. Food web research at the interface of community and ecosystem ecology is promising in this regard. An industry of studies has utilized stable isotopes in recent decades to rapidly characterize energy and material transfer among organisms in freshwater food webs. Nevertheless, these efforts have been somewhat siloed and mainly locally-based, and lack of a centralized database has limited efforts to tackle questions about food web change using isotopes at a global scale. Here we present IsoFresh, a freshwater food web database that contains species-level carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) stable isotope values for 15343 organisms, representing 1001 food webs and including > 1600 fish species and associated potential prey, from 65 countries around the globe. Our hope is that IsoFresh is used to explore fundamental and applied food web questions, contributing new knowledge about global environmental change so that human societies can better conserve and manage freshwater ecosystems along desirable future trajectories.
Authors
- Chloé Vagnon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6201-7110)
- Julian D. Olden (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2143-1187)
- Javier Sánchez‐Hernández (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9684-4774)
- Thomas K. Pool (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6920-4050)
- Michelle C. Jackson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2227-1111)
- Jean‐Marc Roussel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6301-3234)
- Stéphanie Boulêtreau (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0094-0196)
- Josie South (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6339-4225)
- Tyler D. Tunney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7783-2057)
- Lise Comte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8030-0019)
- Alban Sagouis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3827-1063)
- Chris Harrod (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5353-1556)
- Marie‐Elodie Perga (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9003-0769)
- Angus R. McIntosh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2696-8813)
- Julien Cucherousset (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0533-9479)
- Rebekah R. Stiling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1649-8654)
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Leeds (GB)
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada (CA)
- Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR)
- Ifremer (FR)
- Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR)
- Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (ES)
- University of Canterbury (NZ)
- University of Washington (US)
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (DE)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks (US)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- Conservation Science Partners (US)
- Fondation Pour la Recherche Sur la Biodiversité (FR)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- Seattle University (US)
- Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (DE)
- South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (ZA)
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- University of Lausanne (CH)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Knowledge and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems
- Published
- 2025-01-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1051/kmae/2025010
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Isotope Analysis in Ecology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.43
Funders
- UK Research and Innovation
- Fondation pour la Recherche sur la Biodiversite
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Institut écologie et environnement