Kuiper Jan J, van Altena Cassandra, de Ruiter Peter C, van Gerven Luuk P A, Janse Jan H, Mooij Wolf M
Department of Aquatic Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, P.O. Box 50, 6700 AB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Nat Commun. 2015 Jul 15;6:7727. doi: 10.1038/ncomms8727.
A principal aim of ecologists is to identify critical levels of environmental change beyond which ecosystems undergo radical shifts in their functioning. Both food-web theory and alternative stable states theory provide fundamental clues to mechanisms conferring stability to natural systems. Yet, it is unclear how the concept of food-web stability is associated with the resilience of ecosystems susceptible to regime change. Here, we use a combination of food web and ecosystem modelling to show that impending catastrophic shifts in shallow lakes are preceded by a destabilizing reorganization of interaction strengths in the aquatic food web. Analysis of the intricate web of trophic interactions reveals that only few key interactions, involving zooplankton, diatoms and detritus, dictate the deterioration of food-web stability. Our study exposes a tight link between food-web dynamics and the dynamics of the whole ecosystem, implying that trophic organization may serve as an empirical indicator of ecosystem resilience.
生态学家的一个主要目标是确定环境变化的关键水平，超过这一水平，生态系统的功能将发生根本性转变。食物网理论和替代稳定状态理论都为赋予自然系统稳定性的机制提供了基本线索。然而，尚不清楚食物网稳定性的概念如何与易受状态变化影响的生态系统的恢复力相关联。在此，我们结合食物网和生态系统建模表明，浅水湖泊即将发生的灾难性转变之前，水生食物网中的相互作用强度会出现不稳定的重组。对复杂的营养相互作用网络的分析表明，只有少数涉及浮游动物、硅藻和碎屑的关键相互作用决定了食物网稳定性的恶化。我们的研究揭示出食物网动态与整个生态系统动态之间存在紧密联系，这意味着营养组织可能作为生态系统恢复力的一个实证指标。
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