Partitioning the impact of environmental drivers and species interactions in dynamic aquatic communities

Bibliographic Details
Title: Partitioning the impact of environmental drivers and species interactions in dynamic aquatic communities
Authors: C. J. M. Musters, Oleksandra Ieromina, S. Henrik Barmentlo, Ellard R. Hunting, Maarten Schrama, Ellen Cieraad, Martina G. Vijver, Peter M. van Bodegom
Source: Ecosphere, Vol 10, Iss 11, Pp n/a-n/a (2019)
Publisher Information: Wiley, 2019.
Publication Year: 2019
Collection: LCC:Ecology
Subject Terms: abiotic, anthropogenic stressors, biotic, bottom‐up, random forest, seasonal change, Ecology, QH540-549.5
More Details: Abstract Temperate aquatic communities are highly diverse and seasonally variable, due to internal biotic processes and environmental drivers, including human‐induced stressors. The impact of drivers on species abundance is supposed to differ fundamentally depending on whether populations are experiencing limitations, which may shift over the season. However, an integrated understanding of how drivers structure communities seasonally is currently lacking. In order to partition the effect of drivers, we used random forests to quantify interactions between all taxa and environmental factors using macrofaunal data from 18 agricultural ditches sampled over two years. We found that, over the agricultural season, taxon abundance became increasingly better predicted by the abundances of co‐occurring taxa and nutrients compared to other abiotic factors, including pesticides. Our approach provides fundamental insights in community dynamics and highlights the need to consider changes in species interactions to understand the effects of anthropogenic stressors.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2150-8925
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/2150-8925
DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.2910
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/c72e5cf6ef7e411ab4fabefc976931c5
Accession Number: edsdoj.72e5cf6ef7e411ab4fabefc976931c5
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:21508925
DOI:10.1002/ecs2.2910
Published in:Ecosphere
Language:English