The coordination of green-brown food webs and their disruption by anthropogenic nutrient inputs.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

Our goal was to quantify nitrogen flows and stocks in green-brown food webs in different ecosystems, how they differ across ecosystems and how they respond to nutrient enrichment.

Location

Global.

Time period

Contemporary.

Major taxa studied

Plants, phytoplankton, macroalgae, invertebrates, vertebrates and zooplankton.

Methods

Data from >500 studies were combined to estimate nitrogen stocks and fluxes in green-brown food webs in forests, grasslands, brackish environments, seagrass meadows, lakes and oceans. We compared the stocks, fluxes and metabolic rates of different functional groups within each food web. We also used these estimates to build a dynamical model to test the response of the ecosystems to nutrient enrichment.

Results

We found

SUBMITTER: Zelnik YR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9804327 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature