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Tianna Peller, Isabelle Gounand, and Florian Altermatt: Read the article
Nonliving resources frequently flow across ecosystem boundaries, yielding networks of spatially coupled ecosystems. Peller et al. show ecosystem function at landscape scales can depend on the spatial structure of resource flow networks connecting ecosystems and organism feeding traits.
What are nature’s hidden webs of metaecosystems, and what drives their function?
Metaecosystems are collections of interconnected ecosystems where biotic and abiotic properties of ecosystems can interact locally and across space to drive ecosystem functioning. It is well known that the characteristics of organisms inhabiting ecosystems, organism dynamics, species composition, and their interactions can have an enormous impact on ecosystem function. However, it remains unclear how exactly abiotic components, particularly the nonliving flow of resources (nutrients and detritus) across ecosystem boundaries, influence metaecosystem dynamics and functioning. It is also unclear how the interactions between biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem drive metaecosystem functioning. The authors of this paper, Peller, Gounand, and Altermatt, delve into understanding the intricate and complex world of resource flows and how the structure of resource flow networks impacts the functions of these metaecosystems.
Resource flows are an established driver of metaecosystem functioning. Resource flows are pathways through which the nonliving elements of ecosystems, such as nutrients, organic matter, and detritus, move across the boundaries of ecosystems, subsidizing recipient organisms and potentially having cascading effects across trophic levels. Most natural ecosystems exchange resources, such as rivers, lakes, forests, and coral reefs. For example, coral reefs exchange resources with forests, mangroves, and other terrestrial ecosystems through rivers or oceans as resource flow paths. The consumption of resources by organisms, in turn, affects the production and availability of resources, perpetuating resource flow dynamics. The authors investigate how the structure of resource flow networks influences the functioning of metaecosystems where they aim to understand the interaction between organismal traits and the influence of resource flow dynamics and structure on ecosystem function. The authors hypothesize that the more interconnected the ecosystems are through resource flow, the more variable their dynamics can be. They also hypothesize that the spatial structure of resource flows connecting ecosystems can influence ecosystem functioning.
Using simulation models, the authors explored how variations in resource flow network structures, resource flow strength, and consumer feed efficiency influence the overall functioning of metaecosystems. By comparing different network structures and modifying key parameters of the model, they provided insights into how resource flows and biotic interactions collectively shape metaecosystem dynamics.
The results from the study show that metaecosystems with contrasting resource flow network structures can exhibit substantial differences in metaecosystem function. However, no particular network structure consistently displays the most efficient metaecosystem function metaecosystem function. Rather, metaecosystem function depends on a combination of resource flow network structure and biotic (organism traits) and abiotic (resource flow rates) properties of networks.
The study emphasizes that understanding the structure of these connections is essential to deepen our understanding of how ecological functions, species diversity, and primary production are balanced and maintained across a landscape.
Peller, Gounand, and Altermatt’s work highlights how the intricate and complex network of resource flows influences functions of multiple ecosystems, with the structure of the network and organismal traits being essential drivers of the flow that influences ecosystem productivity. The study's highlights are key to deepening our understanding of our planet’s resilient and productive ecosystems.
Nidhi Vinod is a PhD candidate at the University of California Los Angeles’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program in Dr. Elsa Ordway and Dr. Lawren Sack’s labs. Nidhi’s research delves into understanding how plants at an individual and species scale influence ecosystem processes such as water, heat, and carbon cycles and, in turn, how ecosystems respond to climate change. When not researching, Nidhi enjoys hiking, rock-climbing, painting, singing, meditating, and dancing with her friends.
