Allochthonous resources are less important for faunal communities on highly productive, small tropical islands
Abstract Ecosystems are interconnected by energy fluxes that provide resources for the inhabiting organisms along the transition zone. Especially where in situ resources are scarce, ecosystems can become highly dependent on external resources. The dependency on external input becomes less pronounced...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8035 |
| _version_ | 1819118857416081408 |
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| author | Sebastian Steibl Robert Sigl Sanja Blaha Sophia Drescher Gerhard Gebauer Elif Gürkal Frederic Hüftlein Anna Satzger Michael Schwarzer Dimitri Seidenath Jana Welfenbach Raphael S. Zinser Christian Laforsch |
| author_facet | Sebastian Steibl Robert Sigl Sanja Blaha Sophia Drescher Gerhard Gebauer Elif Gürkal Frederic Hüftlein Anna Satzger Michael Schwarzer Dimitri Seidenath Jana Welfenbach Raphael S. Zinser Christian Laforsch |
| author_sort | Sebastian Steibl |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Ecosystems are interconnected by energy fluxes that provide resources for the inhabiting organisms along the transition zone. Especially where in situ resources are scarce, ecosystems can become highly dependent on external resources. The dependency on external input becomes less pronounced in systems with elevated in situ production, where only consumer species close to the site of external input remain subsidized, whereas species distant to the input site rely on the in situ production of the ecosystem. It is largely unclear though if this pattern is consistent over different consumer species and trophic levels in one ecosystem, and whether consumer species that occur both proximate to and at a distance from the input site differ in their dependency on external resource inputs between sites. Using stable isotope analysis, we investigated the dependency on external marine input for common ground‐associated consumer taxa on small tropical islands with high in situ production. We show that marine input is only relevant for strict beach‐dwelling taxa, while the terrestrial vegetation is the main carbon source for inland‐dwelling taxa. Consumer species that occurred both close (beach) and distant (inland) to the site of marine input showed similar proportions of marine input in their diets. This supports earlier findings that the relevance of external resources becomes limited to species close to the input site in systems with sufficient in situ production. However, it also indicates that the relevance of external input is also species‐dependent, as consumers occurring close and distant to the input site depended equally strong or weak on marine input. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T05:55:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-39c8a20d988544bfa1376dc82a8b4264 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T05:55:32Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-39c8a20d988544bfa1376dc82a8b42642022-12-21T18:36:44ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582021-10-011119131281313810.1002/ece3.8035Allochthonous resources are less important for faunal communities on highly productive, small tropical islandsSebastian Steibl0Robert Sigl1Sanja Blaha2Sophia Drescher3Gerhard Gebauer4Elif Gürkal5Frederic Hüftlein6Anna Satzger7Michael Schwarzer8Dimitri Seidenath9Jana Welfenbach10Raphael S. Zinser11Christian Laforsch12Department Animal Ecology I and BayCEER University of Bayreuth Bayreuth GermanyDepartment Animal Ecology I and BayCEER University of Bayreuth Bayreuth GermanyDepartment Animal Ecology I and BayCEER University of Bayreuth Bayreuth GermanyDepartment Animal Ecology I and BayCEER University of Bayreuth Bayreuth GermanyBayCEER—Laboratory of Isotope Biogeochemistry University of Bayreuth Bayreuth GermanyDepartment Animal Ecology I and BayCEER University of Bayreuth Bayreuth GermanyDepartment Animal Ecology I and BayCEER University of Bayreuth Bayreuth GermanyDepartment Animal Ecology I and BayCEER University of Bayreuth Bayreuth GermanyDepartment Animal Ecology I and BayCEER University of Bayreuth Bayreuth GermanyDepartment Animal Ecology I and BayCEER University of Bayreuth Bayreuth GermanyDepartment Animal Ecology I and BayCEER University of Bayreuth Bayreuth GermanyDepartment Animal Ecology I and BayCEER University of Bayreuth Bayreuth GermanyDepartment Animal Ecology I and BayCEER University of Bayreuth Bayreuth GermanyAbstract Ecosystems are interconnected by energy fluxes that provide resources for the inhabiting organisms along the transition zone. Especially where in situ resources are scarce, ecosystems can become highly dependent on external resources. The dependency on external input becomes less pronounced in systems with elevated in situ production, where only consumer species close to the site of external input remain subsidized, whereas species distant to the input site rely on the in situ production of the ecosystem. It is largely unclear though if this pattern is consistent over different consumer species and trophic levels in one ecosystem, and whether consumer species that occur both proximate to and at a distance from the input site differ in their dependency on external resource inputs between sites. Using stable isotope analysis, we investigated the dependency on external marine input for common ground‐associated consumer taxa on small tropical islands with high in situ production. We show that marine input is only relevant for strict beach‐dwelling taxa, while the terrestrial vegetation is the main carbon source for inland‐dwelling taxa. Consumer species that occurred both close (beach) and distant (inland) to the site of marine input showed similar proportions of marine input in their diets. This supports earlier findings that the relevance of external resources becomes limited to species close to the input site in systems with sufficient in situ production. However, it also indicates that the relevance of external input is also species‐dependent, as consumers occurring close and distant to the input site depended equally strong or weak on marine input.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8035beach wrackfood webmarine subsidiesstable isotope analysis |
| spellingShingle | Sebastian Steibl Robert Sigl Sanja Blaha Sophia Drescher Gerhard Gebauer Elif Gürkal Frederic Hüftlein Anna Satzger Michael Schwarzer Dimitri Seidenath Jana Welfenbach Raphael S. Zinser Christian Laforsch Allochthonous resources are less important for faunal communities on highly productive, small tropical islands Ecology and Evolution beach wrack food web marine subsidies stable isotope analysis |
| title | Allochthonous resources are less important for faunal communities on highly productive, small tropical islands |
| title_full | Allochthonous resources are less important for faunal communities on highly productive, small tropical islands |
| title_fullStr | Allochthonous resources are less important for faunal communities on highly productive, small tropical islands |
| title_full_unstemmed | Allochthonous resources are less important for faunal communities on highly productive, small tropical islands |
| title_short | Allochthonous resources are less important for faunal communities on highly productive, small tropical islands |
| title_sort | allochthonous resources are less important for faunal communities on highly productive small tropical islands |
| topic | beach wrack food web marine subsidies stable isotope analysis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8035 |
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