Biodiversity mediates top–down control in eelgrass ecosystems: a global comparative‐experimental approach

Nutrient pollution and reduced grazing each can stimulate algal blooms as shown by numerous experiments. But because experiments rarely incorporate natural variation in environmental factors and biodiversity, conditions determining the relative strength of bottom–up and top–down forcing remain unres...

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Published in:Ecology letters Vol. 18; no. 7; pp. 696 - 705
Main Authors: Duffy, J. Emmett, Reynolds, Pamela L, Boström, Christoffer, Coyer, James A, Cusson, Mathieu, Donadi, Serena, Douglass, James G, Eklöf, Johan S, Engelen, Aschwin H, Eriksson, Britas Klemens, Fredriksen, Stein, Gamfeldt, Lars, Gustafsson, Camilla, Hoarau, Galice, Hori, Masakazu, Hovel, Kevin, Iken, Katrin, Lefcheck, Jonathan S, Moksnes, Per‐Olav, Nakaoka, Masahiro, O'Connor, Mary I, Olsen, Jeanine L, Richardson, J. Paul, Ruesink, Jennifer L, Sotka, Erik E, Thormar, Jonas, Whalen, Matthew A, Stachowicz, John J, Worm, Boris
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Blackwell Science 01.07.2015
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Subjects:
Algae
algae control
Algal blooms
Animals
Biodiversity
Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning
Biomass
bottom-up control
COMMUNITY
coordinated experiments
Crustacea
DIVERSITY
Ecosystems
Environmental factors
Environmental gradient
Environmental Sciences
EUTROPHICATION
Experiments
Food Chain
food webs
FUNCTIONAL-ROLE
Gastropoda
Genotype
global change
Grazing
Herbivory
metabolic ecology
Microalgae
MICROSATELLITE LOCI
Miljövetenskap
Models, Biological
NUTRIENT ENRICHMENT
Nutrient pollution
Nutrients
pollution
Pollution control
Population Dynamics
POPULATIONS
SEAGRASS ECOSYSTEM
seagrasses
structural equation modelling
top-down control
TROPHIC INTERACTIONS
ZOSTERA-MARINA
Zosteraceae - genetics
Zosteraceae - physiology
coordinated experiments
structural equation modelling
top-down control
food webs
Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning
metabolic ecology
bottom-up control
ISSN:1461-023X, 1461-0248, 1461-0248
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Nutrient pollution and reduced grazing each can stimulate algal blooms as shown by numerous experiments. But because experiments rarely incorporate natural variation in environmental factors and biodiversity, conditions determining the relative strength of bottom–up and top–down forcing remain unresolved. We factorially added nutrients and reduced grazing at 15 sites across the range of the marine foundation species eelgrass (Zostera marina) to quantify how top–down and bottom–up control interact with natural gradients in biodiversity and environmental forcing. Experiments confirmed modest top–down control of algae, whereas fertilisation had no general effect. Unexpectedly, grazer and algal biomass were better predicted by cross‐site variation in grazer and eelgrass diversity than by global environmental gradients. Moreover, these large‐scale patterns corresponded strikingly with prior small‐scale experiments. Our results link global and local evidence that biodiversity and top–down control strongly influence functioning of threatened seagrass ecosystems, and suggest that biodiversity is comparably important to global change stressors.
Bibliography:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.12448
 
National Science Foundation - No. OCE-1031061
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ArticleID:ELE12448
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ISSN:1461-023X
1461-0248
1461-0248
DOI:10.1111/ele.12448