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A spatial regime shift from predator to prey dominance in a large coastal ecosystem

Regime shifts in ecosystem structure and processes are typically studied from a temporal perspective. Yet, theory predicts that in large ecosystems with environmental gradients, shifts should start locally and gradually spread through space. Here we empirically document a spatially propagating shift...

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Autores principales: Eklöf, Johan S., Sundblad, Göran, Erlandsson, Mårten, Donadi, Serena, Hansen, Joakim P., Eriksson, Britas Klemens, Bergström, Ulf
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7452892/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32855431
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01180-0
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author Eklöf, Johan S.
Sundblad, Göran
Erlandsson, Mårten
Donadi, Serena
Hansen, Joakim P.
Eriksson, Britas Klemens
Bergström, Ulf
author_facet Eklöf, Johan S.
Sundblad, Göran
Erlandsson, Mårten
Donadi, Serena
Hansen, Joakim P.
Eriksson, Britas Klemens
Bergström, Ulf
author_sort Eklöf, Johan S.
collection PubMed
description Regime shifts in ecosystem structure and processes are typically studied from a temporal perspective. Yet, theory predicts that in large ecosystems with environmental gradients, shifts should start locally and gradually spread through space. Here we empirically document a spatially propagating shift in the trophic structure of a large aquatic ecosystem, from dominance of large predatory fish (perch, pike) to the small prey fish, the three-spined stickleback. Fish surveys in 486 shallow bays along the 1200 km western Baltic Sea coast during 1979–2017 show that the shift started in wave-exposed archipelago areas near the open sea, but gradually spread towards the wave-sheltered mainland coast. Ecosystem surveys in 32 bays in 2014 show that stickleback predation on juvenile predators (predator–prey reversal) generates a feedback mechanism that appears to reinforce the shift. In summary, managers must account for spatial heterogeneity and dispersal to better predict, detect and confront regime shifts within large ecosystems.
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spelling pubmed-74528922020-09-02 A spatial regime shift from predator to prey dominance in a large coastal ecosystem Eklöf, Johan S. Sundblad, Göran Erlandsson, Mårten Donadi, Serena Hansen, Joakim P. Eriksson, Britas Klemens Bergström, Ulf Commun Biol Article Regime shifts in ecosystem structure and processes are typically studied from a temporal perspective. Yet, theory predicts that in large ecosystems with environmental gradients, shifts should start locally and gradually spread through space. Here we empirically document a spatially propagating shift in the trophic structure of a large aquatic ecosystem, from dominance of large predatory fish (perch, pike) to the small prey fish, the three-spined stickleback. Fish surveys in 486 shallow bays along the 1200 km western Baltic Sea coast during 1979–2017 show that the shift started in wave-exposed archipelago areas near the open sea, but gradually spread towards the wave-sheltered mainland coast. Ecosystem surveys in 32 bays in 2014 show that stickleback predation on juvenile predators (predator–prey reversal) generates a feedback mechanism that appears to reinforce the shift. In summary, managers must account for spatial heterogeneity and dispersal to better predict, detect and confront regime shifts within large ecosystems. Nature Publishing Group UK 2020-08-27 /pmc/articles/PMC7452892/ /pubmed/32855431 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01180-0 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Eklöf, Johan S.
Sundblad, Göran
Erlandsson, Mårten
Donadi, Serena
Hansen, Joakim P.
Eriksson, Britas Klemens
Bergström, Ulf
A spatial regime shift from predator to prey dominance in a large coastal ecosystem
title A spatial regime shift from predator to prey dominance in a large coastal ecosystem
title_full A spatial regime shift from predator to prey dominance in a large coastal ecosystem
title_fullStr A spatial regime shift from predator to prey dominance in a large coastal ecosystem
title_full_unstemmed A spatial regime shift from predator to prey dominance in a large coastal ecosystem
title_short A spatial regime shift from predator to prey dominance in a large coastal ecosystem
title_sort spatial regime shift from predator to prey dominance in a large coastal ecosystem
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7452892/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32855431
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-020-01180-0
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