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1. Arctic lagoon and nearshore food webs: Relative contributions of terrestrial organic matter, phytoplankton, and phytobenthos vary with consumer foraging dynamics

   https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2021.107388  

   McMahon, Kelton W ; Ambrose, William G. ; Reynolds, Melinda J. ; Johnson, Beverly ; Whiting, A. ; Clough, Lisa M. ( May 2021 , Estuarine coastal and shelf science)

   null (Ed.)

   Characterizing energy flow and trophic linkages is fundamental to understanding the functioning and resilience of Arctic ecosystems under increasing pressure from climate change and anthropogenic exploitation. We used carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes to examine trophic dynamics and the relative contribution of terrestrial organic matter, water column phytoplankton, and phytobenthos (benthic micro- and macro-autotrophs as well as sea ice algae) to the food webs supporting 45 macroconsumers in three Arctic coastal lagoon ecosystems (Krusenstern, Sisualik, Akulaaq) and the adjacent Kotzebue Sound with varying degrees of connectivity in Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Alaska. A two-source (water column particulate organic matter and benthic sediment organic matter), two-isotope trophic dynamics model informed by a Bayesian isotope mixing model revealed that the Lagoon-Kotzebue Sound coastal ecosystem supported consumers along a trophic position continuum from primary consumers, including amphipods, copepods, and clams to trophic level five predators, such as seastars, piscivorous fishes, seals, and seabirds. The relative contribution of the three primary producer end members, terrestrial organic matter (41 ± 21%), phytoplankton (25 ± 21%), and phytobenthos (34 ± 23%) varied as a function of: 1) consumer foraging ecology and 2) consumer location. Suspension feeders received most of their carbon from food webs based on phytoplankton (49 ± 11%) and terrestrial organic matter (23 ± 5%), whereas herbivores and detritivores received the majority of their carbon from phytobenthos-based food webs, 58 ± 10% and 60 ± 8%, respectively. Omnivores and predators showed more even distributions of resource reliance and greater overall variance among species. Within the invertebrates, the importance of terrestrial organic matter decreased and phytobenthos increased with increasing trophic position. The importance of terrestrial organic matter contribution increased with lagoon proximity to major rivers inputs and isolation from Kotzebue Sound. Several taxa with cultural and subsistence food importance to local communities showed significant reliance (30–90% of baseline carbon) on food chains linked to fresh terrestrial organic matter. Our study indicates that terrestrial-marine linkages are important to the function of Arctic coastal lagoon ecosystems and artisanal fisheries. These linkages are likely to strengthen in the future with regional changes in erosion and runoff associated with climate change and anthropogenic disturbance. 

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2. Strong correlations of sea ice cover with macroalgal cover along the Antarctic Peninsula: Ramifications for present and future benthic communities

   https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2023.00020  

   Amsler, Charles D. ; Amsler, Margaret O. ; Klein, Andrew G. ; Galloway, Aaron W. ; Iken, Katrin ; McClintock, James B. ; Heiser, Sabrina ; Lowe, Alex T. ; Schram, Julie B. ; Whippo, Ross ( January 2023 , Elem Sci Anth)

   Macroalgal forests dominate shallow hard bottom areas along the northern portion of the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). Macroalgal biomass and diversity are known to be dramatically lower in the southern WAP and at similar latitudes around Antarctica, but few reports detail the distributions of macroalgae or associated macroinvertebrates in the central WAP. We used satellite imagery to identify 14 sites differing in sea ice coverage but similar in terms of turbidity along the central WAP. Fleshy macroalgal cover was strongly, negatively correlated with ice concentration, but there was no significant correlation between macroinvertebrate cover and sea ice. Overall community (all organisms) diversity correlated negatively with sea ice concentration and positively with fleshy macroalgal cover, which ranged from around zero at high ice sites to 80% at the lowest ice sites. Nonparametric, multivariate analyses resulted in clustering of macroalgal assemblages across most of the northern sites of the study area, although they differed greatly with respect to macroalgal percent cover and diversity. Analyses of the overall communities resulted in three site clusters corresponding to high, medium, and low fleshy macroalgal cover. At most northern sites, macroalgal cover was similar across depths, but macroalgal and macroinvertebrate distributions suggested increasing effects of ice scour in shallower depths towards the south. Hindcast projections based on correlations of ice and macroalgal cover data suggest that macroalgal cover at many sites could have been varying substantially over the past 40 years. Similarly, based on predicted likely sea ice decreases by 2100, projected increases in macroalgal cover at sites that currently have high ice cover and low macroalgal cover are substantial, often with only a future 15% decrease in sea ice. Such changes would have important ramifications to future benthic communities and to understanding how Antarctic macroalgae may contribute to future blue carbon sequestration. 

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3. Trout and invertebrate assemblages in stream pools through wildfire and drought

   https://doi.org/10.1111/fwb.14212  

   Cooper, Scott D. ; Wiseman, Sheila W. ; DiFiore, Bartholomew P. ; Klose, Kristie ( January 2024 , Freshwater Biology)

   Climate change is increasing the frequency, severity, and extent of wildfires and drought in many parts of the world, with numerous repercussions for the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of streams. However, information on how these perturbations affect top predators and their impacts on lower trophic levels in streams is limited.

   The top aquatic predator in southern California streams is nativeOncorhynchus mykiss, the endangered southern California steelhead trout (trout). To examine relationships among the distribution of trout, environmental factors, and stream invertebrate resources and assemblages, we sampled pools in 25 stream reaches that differed in the presence (nine reaches) or absence (16 reaches) of trout over 12 years, including eight reaches where trout were extirpated during the study period by drought or post‐fire flood disturbances.

   Trout were present in deep pools with high water and habitat quality. Invertebrate communities in trout pools were dominated by a variety of medium‐sized collector–gatherer and shredder invertebrate taxa with non‐seasonal life cycles, whereas tadpoles and large, predatory invertebrates (Odonata, Coleoptera, Hemiptera [OCH]), often with atmospheric breather traits, were more abundant in troutless than trout pools.

   Structural equation modelling of the algal‐based food web indicated a trophic cascade from trout to predatory invertebrates to collector–gatherer taxa and weaker direct negative trout effects on grazers; however, both grazers and collector–gatherers also were positively related to macroalgal biomass. Structural equation modelling also suggested that bottom‐up interactions and abiotic factors drove the detritus‐based food web, with shredder abundance being positively related to leaf litter (coarse particulate organic matter) levels, which, in turn, were positively related to canopy cover and negatively related to flow. These results emphasise the context dependency of trout effects on prey communities and of the relative importance of top‐down versus bottom‐up interactions on food webs, contingent on environmental conditions (flow, light, nutrients, disturbances) and the abundances and traits of component taxa.

   Invertebrate assemblage structure changed from a trout to a troutless configuration within a year or two after trout were lost owing to post‐fire scouring flows or drought. Increases in OCH abundance after trout were lost were much more variable after drought than after fire. The reappearance of trout in one stream resulted in quick, severe reductions in OCH abundance.

   These results indicate that climate‐change induced disturbances can result in the extirpation of a top predator, with cascading repercussions for stream communities and food webs. This study also emphasises the importance of preserving or restoring refuge habitats, such as deep, shaded, perennial, cool stream pools with high habitat and water quality, to prevent the extirpation of sensitive species and preserve native biodiversity during a time of climate change.

    

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4. WAP-1D-VAR v1.0: development and evaluation of a one-dimensional variational data assimilation model for the marine ecosystem along the West Antarctic Peninsula

   https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-4939-2021  

   Kim, Hyewon Heather ; Luo, Ya-Wei ; Ducklow, Hugh W. ; Schofield, Oscar M. ; Steinberg, Deborah K. ; Doney, Scott C. ( January 2021 , Geoscientific Model Development)

   Abstract. The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a rapidly warming region, withsubstantial ecological and biogeochemical responses to the observed changeand variability for the past decades, revealed by multi-decadal observationsfrom the Palmer Antarctica Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program. Thewealth of these long-term observations provides an important resource forecosystem modeling, but there has been a lack of focus on the developmentof numerical models that simulate time-evolving plankton dynamics over theaustral growth season along the coastal WAP. Here, we introduce aone-dimensional variational data assimilation planktonic ecosystem model (i.e., theWAP-1D-VAR v1.0 model) equipped with a modelparameter optimization scheme. We first demonstrate the modified and newlyadded model schemes to the pre-existing food web and biogeochemicalcomponents of the other ecosystem models that WAP-1D-VAR model was adaptedfrom, including diagnostic sea-ice forcing and trophic interactions specificto the WAP region. We then present the results from model experiments wherewe assimilate 11 different data types from an example Palmer LTER growthseason (October 2002–March 2003) directly related to corresponding modelstate variables and flows between these variables. The iterative dataassimilation procedure reduces the misfits between observationsand model results by 58 %, compared to before optimization, via an optimized set of12 parameters out of a total of 72 free parameters. The optimized model resultscapture key WAP ecological features, such as blooms during seasonal sea-iceretreat, the lack of macronutrient limitation, and modeled variables andflows comparable to other studies in the WAP region, as well as severalimportant ecosystem metrics. One exception is that the model slightlyunderestimates particle export flux, for which we discuss potentialunderlying reasons. The data assimilation scheme of the WAP-1D-VAR modelenables the available observational data to constrain previously poorlyunderstood processes, including the partitioning of primary production bydifferent phytoplankton groups, the optimal chlorophyll-to-carbon ratio ofthe WAP phytoplankton community, and the partitioning of dissolved organiccarbon pools with different lability. The WAP-1D-VAR model can besuccessfully employed to link the snapshots collected by the available datasets together to explain and understand the observed dynamics along thecoastal WAP. 

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5. Intraspecific variation and energy channel coupling within a Chilean kelp forest

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3198  

   Elliott Smith, E ; Harrod, C ; Docmac, F ; Newsome, S. ( October 2020 , Ecology)

   Winemiller, KO. (Ed.)

   The widespread importance of variable types of primary production, or energy channels, to consumer communities has become increasingly apparent. However, the mechanisms underlying this “multichannel” feeding remain poorly understood, especially for aquatic ecosystems that pose unique logistical constraints given the diversity of potential energy channels. Here, we use bulk tissue isotopic analysis along with carbon isotope (δ13C) analysis of individual amino acids to characterize the relative contribution of pelagic and benthic energy sources to a kelp forest consumer community in northern Chile. We measured bulk tissue δ13C and δ15N for >120 samples; of these we analyzed δ13C values of six essential amino acids (EAA) from nine primary producer groups (n = 41) and 11 representative nearshore consumer taxa (n = 56). Using EAA δ13C data, we employed linear discriminant analysis (LDA) to assess how distinct EAA δ13C values were between local pelagic (phytoplankton/particulate organic matter), and benthic (kelps, red algae, and green algae) endmembers. With this model, we were able to correctly classify nearly 90% of producer samples to their original groupings, a significant improvement on traditional bulk isotopic analysis. With this EAA isotopic library, we then generated probability distributions for the most important sources of production for each individual consumer and species using a bootstrap‐resampling LDA approach. We found evidence for multichannel feeding within the community at the species level. Invertebrates tended to focus on either pelagic or benthic energy, deriving 13–67% of their EAA from pelagic sources. In contrast, mobile (fish) taxa at higher trophic levels used more equal proportions of each channel, ranging from 19% to 47% pelagically derived energy. Within a taxon, multichannel feeding was a result of specialization among individuals in energy channel usage, with 37 of 56 individual consumers estimated to derive >80% of their EAA from a single channel. Our study reveals how a cutting‐edge isotopic technique can characterize the dynamics of energy flow in coastal food webs, a topic that has historically been difficult to address. More broadly, our work provides a mechanism as to how multichannel feeding may occur in nearshore communities, and we suggest this pattern be investigated in additional ecosystems. 

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