Publications
140 results found
Woodward G, 2012, Global Change in Multispecies Systems: Part 1, Publisher: Academic Press, ISBN: 9780123972934
Dossena M, Yvon-Durocher G, Grey J, et al., 2012, Warming alters community size structure and ecosystem functioning, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol: 279, Pages: 3011-3019, ISSN: 0962-8452
<jats:p>Global warming can affect all levels of biological complexity, though we currently understand least about its potential impact on communities and ecosystems. At the ecosystem level, warming has the capacity to alter the structure of communities and the rates of key ecosystem processes they mediate. Here we assessed the effects of a 4°C rise in temperature on the size structure and taxonomic composition of benthic communities in aquatic mesocosms, and the rates of detrital decomposition they mediated. Warming had no effect on biodiversity, but altered community size structure in two ways. In spring, warmer systems exhibited steeper size spectra driven by declines in total community biomass and the proportion of large organisms. By contrast, in autumn, warmer systems had shallower size spectra driven by elevated total community biomass and a greater proportion of large organisms. Community-level shifts were mirrored by changes in decomposition rates. Temperature-corrected microbial and macrofaunal decomposition rates reflected the shifts in community structure and were strongly correlated with biomass across mesocosms. Our study demonstrates that the 4°C rise in temperature expected by the end of the century has the potential to alter the structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems profoundly, as well as the intimate linkages between these levels of ecological organization.</jats:p>
Yvon-Durocher G, Caffrey JM, Cescatti A, et al., 2012, Reconciling the temperature dependence of respiration across timescales and ecosystem types., Nature, Vol: 487, Pages: 472-476
Ecosystem respiration is the biotic conversion of organic carbon to carbon dioxide by all of the organisms in an ecosystem, including both consumers and primary producers. Respiration exhibits an exponential temperature dependence at the subcellular and individual levels, but at the ecosystem level respiration can be modified by many variables including community abundance and biomass, which vary substantially among ecosystems. Despite its importance for predicting the responses of the biosphere to climate change, it is as yet unknown whether the temperature dependence of ecosystem respiration varies systematically between aquatic and terrestrial environments. Here we use the largest database of respiratory measurements yet compiled to show that the sensitivity of ecosystem respiration to seasonal changes in temperature is remarkably similar for diverse environments encompassing lakes, rivers, estuaries, the open ocean and forested and non-forested terrestrial ecosystems, with an average activation energy similar to that of the respiratory complex (approximately 0.65 electronvolts (eV)). By contrast, annual ecosystem respiration shows a substantially greater temperature dependence across aquatic (approximately 0.65 eV) versus terrestrial ecosystems (approximately 0.32 eV) that span broad geographic gradients in temperature. Using a model derived from metabolic theory, these findings can be reconciled by similarities in the biochemical kinetics of metabolism at the subcellular level, and fundamental differences in the importance of other variables besides temperature—such as primary productivity and allochthonous carbon inputs—on the structure of aquatic and terrestrial biota at the community level.
THOMPSON RM, DUNNE JA, WOODWARD GUY, 2012, Freshwater food webs: towards a more fundamental understanding of biodiversity and community dynamics, Freshwater Biology, Vol: 57, Pages: 1329-1341, ISSN: 0046-5070
<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:p>1. Food webs are a powerful whole‐system way to represent the patterns of biodiversity and energy flow in a readily quantifiable framework amenable to comparative analyses. Integrated theory and data on complex trophic interactions provide useful and novel ways to study ecosystem structure, dynamics, function and stability.</jats:p><jats:p>2. Freshwater ecology has contributed considerably to the advancement of food‐web ecology. This has occurred through early application of methodological advances such as stable isotope analysis and description of some of the most detailed food webs, including Little Rock Lake and the Broadstone Stream food webs.</jats:p><jats:p>3. Freshwater food webs are often highly resolved, although the inclusion of components such as bacteria continues to be challenging. Characteristics of stream food webs appear to include high rates of omnivory and a strong role for body size as a structuring influence.</jats:p><jats:p>4. While freshwater ecology has often included landscape factors, food webs from freshwaters have most often been collected at small spatial scales. There is a need to take a landscape approach to the study of food‐web dynamics in freshwater ecosystems.</jats:p><jats:p>5. Studies of food webs that take an experimental approach or utilise natural gradients remain rare but will be vital to untangling causative relationships between changing environmental conditions and food‐web structure and dynamics.</jats:p><jats:p>6. Emerging directions in freshwater food‐web research involve integrating individual‐level variation and information on traits into food‐web studies. This is allowing a growing understanding of the ways in which food webs can be used to integrate community, evolutionary and population processes into studies of biodiversity.</jats:p><jats:p>7. A Virtual
Woodward G, Gessner MO, Giller PS, et al., 2012, Continental-scale effects of nutrient pollution on stream ecosystem functioning., Science, Vol: 336, Pages: 1438-1440
Excessive nutrient loading is a major threat to aquatic ecosystems worldwide that leads to profound changes in aquatic biodiversity and biogeochemical processes. Systematic quantitative assessment of functional ecosystem measures for river networks is, however, lacking, especially at continental scales. Here, we narrow this gap by means of a pan-European field experiment on a fundamental ecosystem process--leaf-litter breakdown--in 100 streams across a greater than 1000-fold nutrient gradient. Dramatically slowed breakdown at both extremes of the gradient indicated strong nutrient limitation in unaffected systems, potential for strong stimulation in moderately altered systems, and inhibition in highly polluted streams. This large-scale response pattern emphasizes the need to complement established structural approaches (such as water chemistry, hydrogeomorphology, and biological diversity metrics) with functional measures (such as litter-breakdown rate, whole-system metabolism, and nutrient spiraling) for assessing ecosystem health.
Lauridsen RB, Edwards FK, Bowes MJ, et al., 2012, Consumer–resource elemental imbalances in a nutrient-rich stream, Freshwater Science, Vol: 31, Pages: 408-422, ISSN: 2161-9549
Perkins DM, YvonDurocher G, Demars BOL, et al., 2012, Consistent temperature dependence of respiration across ecosystems contrasting in thermal history, Global Change Biology, Vol: 18, Pages: 1300-1311, ISSN: 1354-1013
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Ecosystem respiration is a primary component of the carbon cycle and understanding the mechanisms that determine its temperature dependence will be important for predicting how rates of carbon efflux might respond to global warming. We used a rare model system, comprising a network of geothermally heated streams ranging in temperature from 5 °C to 25 °C, to explore the nature of the relationship between respiration and temperature. Using this ‘natural experiment’, we tested whether the natal thermal regime of stream communities influenced the temperature dependence of respiration in the absence of other potentially confounding variables. An empirical survey of 13 streams across the thermal gradient revealed that the temperature dependence of whole‐stream respiration was equivalent to the average activation energy of the respiratory complex (0.6–0.7 eV). This observation was also consistent for <jats:italic>in‐situ</jats:italic> benthic respiration. Laboratory experiments, incubating biofilms from four streams across the thermal gradient at a range of temperatures, revealed that the activation energy and Q<jats:sub>10</jats:sub> of respiration were remarkably consistent across streams, despite marked differences in their thermal history and significant turnover in species composition. Furthermore, absolute rates of respiration at standardised temperature were also unrelated to ambient stream temperature, but strongly reflected differences in biofilm biomass. Together, our results suggest that the core biochemistry, which drives the kinetics of oxidative respiratory metabolism, may be well conserved among diverse taxa and environments, and that the intrinsic sensitivity of respiration to temperature is not influenced by ambient environmental temperature.</jats:p>
Hagen M, Kissling WD, Rasmussen C, et al., 2012, Biodiversity, Species Interactions and Ecological Networks in a Fragmented World, ADVANCES IN ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH, VOL 46: GLOBAL CHANGE IN MULTISPECIES SYSTEMS, PT 1, Editors: Jacob, Woodward, Publisher: ELSEVIER ACADEMIC PRESS INC, Pages: 89-210, ISBN: 978-0-12-396992-7
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- Citations: 283
Woodward G, Jacob U, O'Gorman EJ, 2012, Editorial Commentary: Global Change in Multispecies Systems Part 2 PREFACE, Publisher: ELSEVIER ACADEMIC PRESS INC, ISBN: 978-0-12-398315-2
O'Gorman EJ, Pichler DE, Adams G, et al., 2012, Impacts of Warming on the Structure and Functioning of Aquatic Communities: Individual-to Ecosystem-Level Responses, ADVANCES IN ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH, VOL 47: GLOBAL CHANGE IN MULTISPECIES SYSTEMS, PT 2, Vol: 47, Pages: 81-176, ISSN: 0065-2504
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- Citations: 110
Reiss J, Bailey RA, Perkins DM, et al., 2011, Testing effects of consumer richness, evenness and body size on ecosystem functioning, Journal of Animal Ecology, Vol: 80, Pages: 1145-1154, ISSN: 0021-8790
Forster J, Hirst AG, Woodward G, 2011, Growth and Development Rates Have Different Thermal Responses, The American Naturalist, Vol: 178, Pages: 668-678, ISSN: 0003-0147
Gudmundsdottir R, Gislason GM, Palsson S, et al., 2011, Effects of temperature regime on primary producers in Icelandic geothermal streams, Aquatic Botany, Vol: 95, Pages: 278-286, ISSN: 0304-3770
Belgrano A, Reiss J, Woodward G, 2011, The Role of Body Size in Multispecies Systems, Publisher: Academic Press, ISBN: 9780123864758
Brown LE, Edwards FK, Milner AM, et al., 2011, Food web complexity and allometric scaling relationships in stream mesocosms: implications for experimentation, Journal of Animal Ecology, Vol: 80, Pages: 884-895, ISSN: 0021-8790
LEDGER ME, EDWARDS FK, BROWN LE, et al., 2011, Impact of simulated drought on ecosystem biomass production: an experimental test in stream mesocosms, Global Change Biology, Vol: 17, Pages: 2288-2297, ISSN: 1354-1013
DEMARS BOL, RUSSELL MANSON J, ÓLAFSSON JS, et al., 2011, Temperature and the metabolic balance of streams, Freshwater Biology, Vol: 56, Pages: 1106-1121, ISSN: 0046-5070
Hladyz S, Åbjörnsson K, Giller PS, et al., 2011, Impacts of an aggressive riparian invader on community structure and ecosystem functioning in stream food webs, Journal of Applied Ecology, Vol: 48, Pages: 443-452, ISSN: 0021-8901
<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:p> <jats:bold>1.</jats:bold> Bioassessment in running waters has focused primarily on the impacts of organic pollution on community structure. Other stressors (e.g. invasive species) and impacts on ecosystem processes have been largely ignored in many riverine biomonitoring schemes, despite being required increasingly by environmental legislation.</jats:p><jats:p> <jats:bold>2.</jats:bold> Exotic riparian plants can exert potentially powerful stresses by altering both autochthonous and allochthonous trophic pathways. We examined the impact of <jats:italic>Rhododendron ponticum</jats:italic> on community structure and three key ecosystem processes (decomposition, primary production, and herbivory) in nine streams bordered by three characteristic vegetation types (deciduous woodland, pasture, or <jats:italic>Rhododendron</jats:italic>).</jats:p><jats:p> <jats:bold>3.</jats:bold> Community structure and ecosystem process rates differed among vegetation types, with autochthonous pathways being relatively more important in the pasture streams than in the woodland reference streams. Overall ecosystem functioning, however, was compromised in the invaded streams because both allochthonous and autochthonous inputs were impaired. <jats:italic>Rhododendron</jats:italic>’s poor quality litter and densely shaded canopy suppressed decomposition rates and algal production, and the availability of resources to consumer assemblages.</jats:p><jats:p> <jats:bold>4.</jats:bold> <jats:italic>Synthesis and applications</jats:italic>. Combining measures of invertebrate abundance, rates of litter decomposition and algal production in future bioassessments of stream ecosystem functioning can help to make better informed management decisions and to develop more focused priorities f
YVON-DUROCHER GABRIEL, MONTOYA JM, TRIMMER MARK, et al., 2011, Warming alters the size spectrum and shifts the distribution of biomass in freshwater ecosystems, Global Change Biology, Vol: 17, Pages: 1681-1694, ISSN: 1354-1013
Yvon-Durocher G, Reiss J, Blanchard J, et al., 2011, Across ecosystem comparisons of size structure: methods, approaches and prospects, OIKOS, Vol: 120, Pages: 550-563, ISSN: 0030-1299
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- Citations: 62
YVONDUROCHER G, MONTOYA JM, WOODWARD GUY, et al., 2011, Warming increases the proportion of primary production emitted as methane from freshwater mesocosms, Global Change Biology, Vol: 17, Pages: 1225-1234, ISSN: 1354-1013
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Methane (CH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub>) and carbon dioxide (CO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>) are the dominant gaseous end products of the remineralization of organic carbon and also the two largest contributors to the anthropogenic greenhouse effect. We investigated whether warming altered the balance of CH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub> efflux relative to gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) in a freshwater mesocosm experiment. Whole ecosystem CH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub> efflux was strongly related to temperature with an apparent activation energy of 0.85 eV. Furthermore, CH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub> efflux increased faster than ER or GPP with temperature, with all three processes having sequentially lower activation energies. Warming of 4 °C increased the fraction of GPP effluxing as CH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub> by 20% and the fraction of ER as CH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub> by 9%, in line with the offset in their respective activation energies. Because CH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub> is 21 times more potent as a greenhouse gas, relative to CO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>, these results suggest freshwater ecosystems could drive a previously unknown positive feedback between warming and the carbon cycle.</jats:p>
Woodward G, 2010, Integrative Ecology: From Molecules to Ecosystems, Publisher: Academic Press, ISBN: 9780123850065
This thematic volume represents an important and exciting benchmark in the study of intergrative ecology, synthesizing and showcasing current research and highlighting future directions for the development of the field.
Woodward G, 2010, Integrative Ecology: From Molecules to Ecosystems, Publisher: Academic Press, ISBN: 9780123850065
This thematic volume represents an important and exciting benchmark in the study of intergrative ecology, synthesizing and showcasing current research and highlighting future directions for the development of the field.
Woodward G, 2010, Integrative Ecology: From Molecules to Ecosystems, Publisher: Academic Press, ISBN: 9780123850065
This thematic volume represents an important and exciting benchmark in the study of intergrative ecology, synthesizing and showcasing current research and highlighting future directions for the development of the field.
Perkins DM, Reiss J, Yvon-Durocher G, et al., 2010, Global change and food webs in running waters, Hydrobiologia, Vol: 657, Pages: 181-198, ISSN: 0018-8158
Woodward G, Benstead JP, Beveridge OS, et al., 2010, Ecological networks in a changing climate, Advances in Ecological Research, Vol: 42: Ecological Networks
LAYER K, HILDREW A, MONTEITH DON, et al., 2010, Long‐term variation in the littoral food web of an acidified mountain lake, Global Change Biology, Vol: 16, Pages: 3133-3143, ISSN: 1354-1013
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Evidence of chemical recovery from acidification in European freshwaters has emerged in recent years, with many previously damaged systems responding to decades of reduced acidifying emissions. Biological recovery, however, has often lagged behind, and this has been ascribed to several possible mechanisms, including inertia in the food web. We examined two decades of change in hindcasted food webs for Lochnagar, a Scottish mountain lake, to make inferences about the potential dynamical stability of the system and to assess the prospects for future biological recovery. Although community composition tracked temporal changes in acidity, this was neither sustained nor directional, and mainly manifested as shifts in relative abundances rather than the establishment of more acid‐sensitive species. The food web was highly interconnected and reticulate, especially in years when species richness was low, and subsidized by external inputs of detritus. Among the primary consumers, generalist herbivore–detritivores maintained feeding links with the scant algal resources, which appeared insufficient to support viable populations of specialist grazers. Together, these characteristics, which are shared with many other acidified freshwaters, are likely to make the community dynamically stable and resistant to invasions of potential new colonists, thereby slowing the pace of future biological recovery.</jats:p>
HLADYZ S, TIEGS SD, GESSNER MO, et al., 2010, Leaf‐litter breakdown in pasture and deciduous woodland streams: a comparison among three European regions, Freshwater Biology, Vol: 55, Pages: 1916-1929, ISSN: 0046-5070
<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:p>1. Human land‐use has altered catchments on a large scale in most parts of the world, with one of the most profound changes relevant for streams and rivers being the widespread clearance of woody riparian vegetation to make way for livestock grazing pasture. Increasingly, environmental legislation, such as the EU Water Framework Directive (EU WFD), calls for bioassessment tools that can detect such anthropogenic impacts on ecosystem functioning.</jats:p><jats:p>2. We conducted a large‐scale field experiment in 30 European streams to quantify leaf‐litter breakdown, a key ecosystem process, in streams whose riparian zones and catchments had been cleared for pasture compared with those in native deciduous woodland. The study encompassed a west–east gradient, from Ireland to Switzerland to Romania, with each of the three countries representing a distinct region. We used coarse‐mesh and fine‐mesh litter bags (10 and 0.5 mm, respectively) to assess total, microbial and, by difference, macroinvertebrate‐mediated breakdown.</jats:p><jats:p>3. Overall, total breakdown rates did not differ between land‐use categories, but in some regions macroinvertebrate‐mediated breakdown was higher in deciduous woodland streams, whereas microbial breakdown was higher in pasture streams. This result suggests that overall ecosystem functioning is maintained by compensatory increases in microbial activity in pasture streams.</jats:p><jats:p>4. We suggest that simple coefficients of breakdown rates on their own often might not be powerful enough as a bioassessment tool for detecting differences related to land‐use such as riparian vegetation removal. However, shifts in the relative contributions to breakdown by microbial decomposers versus invertebrate detritivores, as revealed by the ratios of their associated breakdown rate coefficients, showed clear responses to land‐use.</jats:p>
Yvon-Durocher G, Jones JI, Trimmer M, et al., 2010, Warming alters the metabolic balance of ecosystems, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol: 365, Pages: 2117-2126, ISSN: 0962-8436
<jats:p> The carbon cycle modulates climate change, via the regulation of atmospheric CO <jats:sub>2</jats:sub> , and it represents one of the most important services provided by ecosystems. However, considerable uncertainties remain concerning potential feedback between the biota and the climate. In particular, it is unclear how global warming will affect the metabolic balance between the photosynthetic fixation and respiratory release of CO <jats:sub>2</jats:sub> at the ecosystem scale. Here, we present a combination of experimental field data from freshwater mesocosms, and theoretical predictions derived from the metabolic theory of ecology to investigate whether warming will alter the capacity of ecosystems to absorb CO <jats:sub>2</jats:sub> . Our manipulative experiment simulated the temperature increases predicted for the end of the century and revealed that ecosystem respiration increased at a faster rate than primary production, reducing carbon sequestration by 13 per cent. These results confirmed our theoretical predictions based on the differential activation energies of these two processes. Using only the activation energies for whole ecosystem photosynthesis and respiration we provide a theoretical prediction that accurately quantified the precise magnitude of the reduction in carbon sequestration observed experimentally. We suggest the combination of whole-ecosystem manipulative experiments and ecological theory is one of the most promising and fruitful research areas to predict the impacts of climate change on key ecosystem services. </jats:p>
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