Impacts of Extreme Climatic Events on Trophic Network Complexity and Multidimensional Stability

Overview

Journal Ecology

Specialty Environmental Health

Date 2022 Dec 9

PMID 36484732

Authors

Francesco Polazzo

Markus Hermann

Melina Crettaz-Minaglia

Andreu Rico

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Untangling the relationship between network complexity and ecological stability under climate change is an arduous challenge for theoretical and empirical ecology. Even more so, when considering extreme climatic events. Here, we studied the effects of extreme climatic events (heatwaves) on the complexity of realistic freshwater ecosystems using topological and quantitative trophic network metrics. Next, we linked changes in network complexity with the investigation of four stability components (temporal stability, resistance, resilience, and recovery) of community's functional, compositional, and energy flux stability. We found reduction in topological network complexity to be correlated with reduction of functional and compositional resistance. However, temperature-driven increase in link-weighted network complexity increased functional and energy flux recovery and resilience, but at the cost of increased compositional instability. Overall, we propose an overarching approach to elucidate the effects of climate change on multidimensional stability through the lens of network complexity, providing helpful insights for preserving ecosystems stability under climate change.

Citing Articles

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Accounting for effects of growth rate when measuring ecological stability in response to pulse perturbations.

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Multidimensional responses of grassland stability to eutrophication.

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Impacts of extreme climatic events on trophic network complexity and multidimensional stability.

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