Eklof, Johan S. and Sundblad, Göran and Erlandsson, Mårten and Donadi, Serena and Hansen, Joakim P. and Eriksson, Britas Klemens and Bergström, Ulf
(2020).
A spatial regime shift from predator to prey dominance in a large coastal ecosystem.
Communications biology. 3
, 459
[Journal article]
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Abstract
Regime shifts in ecosystem structure and processes are typically studied from a temporal perspective. Yet, theory predicts that in large ecosystems with environmental gradients, shifts should start locally and gradually spread through space. Here we empirically document a spatially propagating shift in the trophic structure of a large aquatic ecosystem, from dominance of large predatory fish (perch, pike) to the small prey fish, the three-spined stickleback. Fish surveys in 486 shallow bays along the 1200 km western Baltic Sea coast during 1979-2017 show that the shift started in wave-exposed archipelago areas near the open sea, but gradually spread towards the wave-sheltered mainland coast. Ecosystem surveys in 32 bays in 2014 show that stickleback predation on juvenile predators (predator-prey reversal) generates a feedback mechanism that appears to reinforce the shift. In summary, managers must account for spatial heterogeneity and dispersal to better predict, detect and confront regime shifts within large ecosystems.Eklof et al. report a spatially propagating shift in the trophic structure along the western Baltic Sea coast. The authors use fish surveys from 1979-2017 to show a shift from dominance of large predatory fish to the small prey fish, the three-spined stickleback, starting in wave-exposed areas and gradually moving to the wave-sheltered coast.
Authors/Creators: | Eklof, Johan S. and Sundblad, Göran and Erlandsson, Mårten and Donadi, Serena and Hansen, Joakim P. and Eriksson, Britas Klemens and Bergström, Ulf | ||||||
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Title: | A spatial regime shift from predator to prey dominance in a large coastal ecosystem | ||||||
Series Name/Journal: | Communications biology | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2020 | ||||||
Volume: | 3 | ||||||
Article number: | 459 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 9 | ||||||
ISSN: | 2399-3642 | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Journal article | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Ecology | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-108159 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-108159 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 17838 | ||||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap | ||||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Department of Aquatic Resources | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 15 Oct 2020 17:00 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 15 Jan 2021 19:20 |
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