Interactions between two functionally distinct aquatic invertebrate herbivores complicate ecosystem- and population-level resilience.

ABSTRACT: Resilience, the capacity for a system to bounce-back after a perturbation, is critical for conservation and restoration efforts. Different functional traits have differential effects on system-level resilience. We test this experimentally in a lab system consisting of algae consumed by zooplankton, snails, or both, using an eutrophication event as a perturbation. We examined seston settlement load, chlorophyll-a and ammonium concentration as gauges of resilience. We find that Daphnia magna increased our measures of resilience. But this effect is not consistent across ecosystem measures; in fact, D. magna increased the difference between disturbed and undisturbed treatments in seston settlement loads. We have some evidence of shifting reproductive strategy in response to pertu

SUBMITTER: Werba JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9549887 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature