Winter is coming: Food web structure and seasonality in a subtropical freshwater coastal lake. Issue 13 (17th May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Peralta‐Maraver, Ignacio; Robertson, Anne L.; Rezende, Enrico L.; Lemes da Silva, Aurea Luiza; Tonetta, Denise; Lopes, Michelle; Schmitt, Rafael; Leite, Nei K.; Nuñer, Alex; Petrucio, Mauricio M.
• Is Part Of: Ecology and evolution. Volume 7:Issue 13(2017:Jul.)
• Page Start: 4534
• Page End: 4542
• Publication Date: 2017-05-17
• Subjects: aquatic systems -- community structure -- top‐down regulation -- trophic interactions; Ecology -- Periodicals; Evolution -- Periodicals; 577.05
• DOI: 10.1002/ece3.3031
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2045-7758

Abstract

Abstract: Food web studies provide a useful tool to assess the organization and complexity of natural communities. Nevertheless, the seasonal dynamics of food web properties, their environmental correlates, and potential association with community diversity and stability remain poorly studied. Here, we condensed an incomplete 6‐year community dataset of a subtropical coastal lake to examine how monthly variation in diversity impacts food web structure over an idealized time series for an averaged year. Phytoplankton, zooplankton, macroinvertebrates, and fish were mostly resolved to species level ( n = 120 trophospecies). Our results showed that the seasonal organization of the food web could be aggregated into two clusters of months grouped here as 'summer' and 'winter'. During 'winter', the food web decreases in size and complexity, with the number of trophospecies dropping from 106 to 82 (a 22.6% decrease in the number of nodes) and the trophic interactions from 1, 049 to 637 between month extremes (a 39.3% drop in the number of links). The observed simplification in food web structure during 'winter' suggests that community stability is more vulnerable to the impact of any change during this period. Abstract : Here, we assess the seasonal food web dynamic of a subtropical coastal lake by combining analysis of complexity and topology. Bottom‐up processes resulting from reduction in primary production and macroinvertebrate species richness produce an important simplification in food web structure.