Imperial College London
Alternate

Professor Guy Woodward - Deputy Head of Department

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Life Sciences (Silwood Park)

Professor of Ecology
 
 
 
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Contact

 

guy.woodward

 
 
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Location

 

MunroSilwood Park

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{O'Gorman:2019:10.1038/s41558-019-0513-x,
author = {O'Gorman, EJ and Petchey, OL and Faulkner, KJ and Gallo, B and Gordon, TAC and Neto-Cerejeira, J and Olafsson, JS and Pichler, DE and Thompson, MSA and Woodward, G},
doi = {10.1038/s41558-019-0513-x},
journal = {Nature Climate Change},
pages = {611--616},
title = {A simple model predicts how warming simplifies wild food webs},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0513-x},
volume = {9},
year = {2019}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Warming increases the metabolic demand of consumers1, strengthening their feeding interactions2. This could alter energy fluxes3,4,5 and even amplify extinction rates within the food web6,7,8. Such effects could simplify the structure and dynamics of ecological networks9,10, although an empirical test in natural systems has been lacking. Here, we tested this hypothesis by characterizing around 50,000 directly observed feeding interactions across 14 naturally heated stream ecosystems11,12,13,14,15. We found that higher temperature simplified food-web structure and shortened the pathways of energy flux between consumers and resources. A simple allometric diet breadth model10,16 predicted 68–82% of feeding interactions and the effects of warming on key food-web properties. We used model simulations to identify the underlying mechanism as a change in the relative diversity and abundance of consumers and their resources. This model shows how warming can reduce the stability of aquatic ecosystems by eroding the structural integrity of the food web. Given these fundamental drivers, such responses are expected to be manifested more broadly and could be predicted using our modelling framework and knowledge of how warming alters some routinely measured characteristics of organisms.
AU  - O'Gorman,EJ
AU  - Petchey,OL
AU  - Faulkner,KJ
AU  - Gallo,B
AU  - Gordon,TAC
AU  - Neto-Cerejeira,J
AU  - Olafsson,JS
AU  - Pichler,DE
AU  - Thompson,MSA
AU  - Woodward,G
DO  - 10.1038/s41558-019-0513-x
EP  - 616
PY  - 2019///
SN  - 1758-678X
SP  - 611
TI  - A simple model predicts how warming simplifies wild food webs
T2  - Nature Climate Change
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0513-x
UR  - http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000477738300017&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
UR  - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-019-0513-x
VL  - 9
ER  -
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